BETHLEHEM, Pa. -- Even as spring sprung throughout the Keystone State, there remained a noticeable nip in the air on the eastern side, characterized best by the
Robert Morris men's lacrosse team continuing to catch a second wind.
The Colonials (4-7, 2-2) blew past No. 17 Lehigh with five unanswered goals in the third quarter, part of a game-changing 7-1 run, then slammed the door in the nick of time for a 13-12 upset of the Mountain Hawks (7-5, 5-1) at the Ulrich Sports Complex Wednesday evening.
RMU has won three in a row and defeated a ranked opponent for the first time in four attempts this season, all coming on the road, and did so for the sixth time in program history and fifth under head coach
Andrew McMinn. Entering Wednesday, its only other win in four previous meetings with Patriot League opponents happened to be a 7-5 takedown of No. 17/18 Bucknell at Mount Lebanon Stadium in Pittsburgh Mar. 22, 2011 that was also the team's first-ever victory over a ranked foe.
Redshirt senior attackmanÂ
Matt Schmidt caught goalkeeper James Spence off guard with a low laser from his sweet spot, deep on the left wing, giving Robert Morris a 13-9 lead with 6:55 left in regulation on his second goal of the day and 19th of the season. The Doylestown native and Central Bucks East product co-led all players with five points.
Lehigh ramped up its attack as the Colonials, defensively, scrambled to match its desperation. The Mountain Hawks made it a three-goal game with under four minutes to play, then, after RMU got a stop, rode the visitors into a turnover that they immediately cashed in to make it a 13-11 affair.
With Robert Morris struggling on faceoffs, Lehigh quickly regained possession and Alex Tumminello scored out of its final timeout to bring his team within one with 2:13 remaining. Senior goalkeeper
Alex Heger came up big on Tumminello, whose initial try at the equalizer was blocked, stuffing him from both long and short range with just over a minute to go to preserve the lead.
Heger continued his stellar play of late with 18 saves, a new season high and one shy of matching his most ever in a regular season non-conference game (at Virginia, Apr. 11, 2017). McMinn called his first timeout after his keeper engineered the all-important clearing attempt, when
Brandon Sulhoff was double-teamed with 49 seconds left.
The Mountain Hawks vacated their net and went all out to force a turnover, harassing the freshman and compelling the Colonials to use their second timeout before they eventually got one with half a minute showing on a running clock. Lehigh gained the box before another RMU rookie,
Owen Down, knocked the ball loose.
Both teams coughed it up near the restraining line, but the Colonials swarmed the ground ball relentlessly, not allowing the Mountain Hawks a clean possession as it dribbled out of bounds toward their jubilant sideline while the final seconds ticked away.
Robert Morris settled into a familiar rhythm on defense after the unfamiliar opponents had begun their inaugural meeting by combining for five goals in the first five-and-a-half minutes of play. The Colonials conceded only two goals over a span of 39:10 before Lehigh tried to rally.
Senior defenseman
Will Ewing caused three of the 15 turnovers by the Mountain Hawks, and Down forced a pair of miscues, including that critical one in the final moments. Ewing's fellow co-captain and Schmidt's high school teammate,
Mike Eveland, co-led the team with four ground balls, while first-year defender
Evan Hellmich and senior
Jack Toomb collected three apiece.
RMU climbed to within 8-6 at halftime, then junior attackman
Ryan Smith began the second half with his 27th goal of the year, taking a pass from Schmidt on the run and finishing easily from in tight to complete his seventh hat trick of the season. Robert Morris has recorded at least one in 20 of its last 21 games.
Its trademark transition game continued to give fits to the Mountain Hawks defense, as
Austin Popovich found Schmidt in the same spot, and the co-captain tied the game with 11:15 left in the period. One minute later, Smith raced out in front from X and again beat Spence from just outside the crease to give RMU its first lead since the first quarter.
Senior midfielder
Tyson Gibson, the other member of the team's 2019 leadership group, got onto the scoresheet for the 32nd time in 33 outings dating back to the 2017 campaign, taking matters into his own hands on a zone entry for a 10-8 advantage. Sophomore attackman
Corson Kealey rounded out his own hat trick, his team-leading eighth HT of the year and fourth in the last three games, with a steal-and-score right in front of Spence that extended the lead with 6:26 remaining.
With Robert Morris playing a man up, Smith saved an errant ball and hastily passed it to
Brad McCulley, who rifled in his fifth extra-man marker of the season from the left elbow for a 12-9 cushion with 3:02 to play in the quarter, just as a holding minor on Erik DiGirolamo had run its course. McCulley equaled Schmidt for the team lead in that category on the play, while Smith matched him with his fifth point of the contest.
RMU, which has scored on nine of its last ten chances, came into the week with a .593 success rate in man-up situations that ranked second in the NCAA.Â
The Colonials, with help from Heger, killed off their only penalty to keep the score 4-4 in the opening frame. After falling behind 7-4 in the second, Popovich, going low-to-low on a pass from Smith, and Smith, on a one-timer from Schmidt that followed a rare faceoff win by Toomb, scored less than a minute apart to get them back within reach.
Schmidt, in transition, hooked up with Smith on a carbon copy of their give-and-go that opened the third quarter to give Robert Morris its first lead with 9:22 left in the first. Popovich had helped Kealey forge a 2-2 tie a minute earlier, when the Ottawa native notched his Northeast Conference-leading 33rd goal of the season on a rising shot from dead center just before being knocked to the turf.
Kealey, a two-time NEC Player of the Week and Week 9 Prime Performer, got RMU on the board by converting an assist from fellow Ontarian
Jake Boudreau along the edge of the crease 3:30 into the game.
Robert Morris concludes the non-conference portion of its 2019 regular season schedule Saturday with another first-ever road trip, this time to Division I independent Cleveland State. The opening faceoff from Krenzler Field in Cleveland is set for noon EDT.
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