MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The
Robert Morris men's lacrosse team got a number of great goals, great stops and great saves in its first Northeast Conference home game Saturday afternoon, but got none when it absolutely had to.
The Colonials (1-7, 0-2), on the precipice of a much-needed end to their ongoing skid, watched an 11-8 advantage through three quarters dissolve into a 14-11 heartbreaker at the hands of Mount St. Mary's (5-5, 2-0) at Joe Walton Stadium.
Although RMU spent the first half of this game chasing it, junior attackmanÂ
Ryan Smith and the Colonials played catch-up with an inspired ferocity unseen to this point in the season. Smith led a 9-1 run that began with just under ten minutes to play in the first half and topped all competitors with six points.
Robert Morris has seen the bear's share of its offense come through a Canadian pipeline 15 players deep, giving the 2019 squad the most members from the Great White North of any Division I team. The 6'2", 220-pound Burlington, Ontario native recorded a natural hat trick in the third to help RMU pull even.
Smith broke out the chapeaus for the fifth time this season and third in a row, and he also grabbed a season-best four ground balls. This marked the 17th time in the past 18 contests, dating back to last spring, that at least one RMU player recorded an HT.
His 16th goal of the season, which he somehow buried through a crowd on the left side with 4:57 to spare, pulled Robert Morris to within 8-6 at the break. Defensive co-captain
Mike Eveland, despite taking a beating on the ride, connected with Smith on an outlet pass that was ripped in from right down the middle just 1:45 into the second half.
Eveland drew an extra-man opportunity on the play, and Robert Morris capitalized on the back end of a subsequent two-man advantage with Jack Mangan in the box for holding. With 12:13 remaining in the third,
Tyson Gibson tossed the ball to Smith at the left of the Mountaineers' crease. He stepped in front, got Dylan Furnback to bite on a pump fake and threw one past the keeper for an 8-8 score.
Dating back to the 2017 campaign, Gibson has registered a point in 29 of his past 30 games. He came into the weekend third in the NEC with an average of 1.86 helpers per game.
Senior goalkeeper
Alex Heger, RMU's other Major League Lacrosse draftee, made one of his ten saves to help Smith get the Colonials' transition game going. The latter set up
Matt Schmidt for his 13th goal of the year with 9:44 to go in the second quarter, a low, underhanded shot from inside the circle that beat Heger's counterpart.
Heger now has an all-time best 564 career stops on the Robert Morris books, having entered the weekend fourth in that category among active D-I goalies. With 5:41 left in the first, he made one of the most eyebrow-raising plays of the season to help his team get within a goal of the Mountaineers.
Freshman defenseman
Evan Hellmich created the second of his season-high three caused turnovers, and Heger collected the loose ball. The
Inside Lacrosse Preseason All-American suddenly took off down the near sideline in a full sprint and didn't stop until he found
Trey Arnold on the right elbow. Arnold caught the Mount's defense staring and converted.
Meanwhile, the Ontarian connection continued to will the Colonials back into the game.
Jake Boudreau, attracting attention in transition, found a wide-open
Corson Kealey on the close right wing, and the Week 6 NEC Prime Performer scored easily to make it an 8-4 affair with 8:24 until halftime.
Austin Popovich, emerging as a role player in the RMU midfield, followed Kealey's team-leading 20th goal with his third. The junior fired up the home sideline with seven minutes to play in the half, when he threw a low ball past Furnback on the short side in the face of a defender.
Popovich, with 11 minutes left in the third, gave the Colonials a 9-8 lead, their first since
Brad McCulley netted the team's first man-up goal with 11:11 left in the opening period. He dodged a defender, found space in the middle of the offensive zone and made the most of it for his first career multiple-goal game.
Heger helped preserve the lead by denying Justin Weick on a man-up opportunity for the Mountaineers with less than ten minutes to play in the quarter. Another save, this time on Jared McMahon, and a hard-fought ground ball by Eveland led to an insurance goal coming out of a Colonials timeout.
He kept the Mount off the board with a stop on Brenden McCarthy moments before the horn, trying to channel his Mar. 24, 2018 performance at the Mount when he made 19 saves, flirting with his career high. The Colonials shut out Mount St. Mary's for the final 27:01 that day, and they blanked the Mountaineers for 28:21 during Saturday's rally.
Junior midfielder
James Scane recorded two caused turnovers, matching a career high that hadn't been equaled since Feb. 17, 2018 versus Georgetown. He used one of them to pave the way for the second of Smith's goals.
Boudreau got the best of Furnback with a low line drive through a screen from 15 yards out with 5:33 to go in the third, his career-high ninth of the year. Kealey also did his part to give RMU breathing room, adding to his team lead in goals by busting loose on the right wing and finishing with 2:07 until the horn.
Robert Morris visits St. Joseph's next Saturday, the first meeting between the cross-state rivals since the Colonials defeated the Hawks on Gibson's goal in overtime of last year's NEC Final. The opening faceoff from Sweeney Field in Philadelphia is set for 1:00 p.m. EDT on NEC Front Row.
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