CLEVELAND -- Coming off a confidence-building, if not eyebrow-raising, win at No. 17 Lehigh, the
Robert Morris men's lacrosse team skillfully avoided a letdown in further non-conference action with a 13-8 triumph over Cleveland State at Krenzler Field Saturday afternoon, its fourth consecutive victory.
The much-improved Division I independent, hosting RMU for the first time since its 2017 inception, played with gusto as it stymied the visitors into an early 2-0 hole. However, the Colonials (5-7, 2-2) planted a seed of doubt toward the end of the first quarter, and watered it by breaking the dam in the second.
Robert Morris, using characteristic, lightning-fast ball movement, put sophomore midfielder
Jake Boudreau in perfect position to crack the goose egg with the first of his three goals on the day and the first of nine straight by the Colonials. Fellow Ontarian
Corson Kealey set him up with 2:12 to go in the opening frame.
Fellow middie
Tyson Gibson tied the game with his 20th of the year, outfoxing goalkeeper Stephen Russo on a wraparound try from the left side with 13:28 left in the half to begin his eventual hat trick. At least one RMU player has recorded an HT in 21 of the team's past 22 games.
"They came out with a little more energy at the start, and we were a little lackadaisical, but we knew what we needed to do to start the second quarter," Gibson said. "We just came out and executed our scout, and it worked out well for us."
Boudreau turned the tables on the Vikings (6-7) with an unconventional goal that gave his team the lead for good. He exploited a ten-man ride by approaching the midfield stripe and hurling the ball the length of the field and into the vacant Cleveland State net for his career-high 12th of the campaign with 8:32 to play.
Freshman defenseman
Evan Hellmich, who also registered his 15th caused turnover of the season Saturday, second-most on the team, earned his first assist as a collegian on Boudreau's go-ahead tally. Meanwhile, the rest of the Colonials defense shut out CSU for a span of 28:13 that spilled into the third quarter.
"They're continuing to mature at that end of the field, and Alex (Heger) is certainly stepping up tremendously in the cage the last couple weeks and playing the way we expect him to play," said head coach
Andrew McMinn. "When he's making the stops he's making, and it's turning into offense in transition for us, we know that we're going to be able to play the way we like to play."
Led by Kealey, the offense then stepped on the proverbial accelerator. The sophomore attackman, who led the Northeast Conference in goals entering Saturday, picked up his 35th of the season as he powered his way in front of the crease from the right corner with under six minutes until the break. Freshman
Brandon Sulhoff, amid consternation from the Cleveland State sideline, made it 5-2 on a similar play 36 seconds later, driving the circle and beating Russo just before stepping inside, according to officials.
A Heger save, one of 12 on the afternoon for the senior netminder, after the subsequent faceoff inspired senior defenseman
Mike Eveland to take matters into his own hands. The co-captain went coast-to-coast for the clear, then went five-hole on Russo for his first goal in 56 games as a collegian, giving the Colonials a four-goal cushion and forcing a Vikings timeout.
"It's definitely been a long time coming, and with it being my senior year, it's euphoric," Eveland laughed. "But the best thing is just helping out towards a win. So many guys were ready to play and stepped up."
The Doylestown, Pennsylvania native and Central Bucks East product led the "D" with four ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. One of his high school teammates and fellow co-captains, redshirt senior attackman
Matt Schmidt, set up
Ryan Smith for a 7-2 advantage.
After Heger denied faceoff specialist Danny Tesler, his counterpart,
Trey Arnold, grabbed the ground ball to start a quick counterattack that finished with Smith scoring his 29th of the year from the close left wing with 3:30 remaining. The two juniors eventually co-led Robert Morris with five GB's apiece.
RMU was unable to extend the lead after controlling the faceoff but stayed patient and drew an offside call on Jason Sullivan after Heger had stopped his attempt. Gibson took command with penalty time ticking away, ripping one past Russo from up high to make it an 8-2 game with less than a minute left in the half.
For the Colonials, it was their tenth man-up goal in a stretch of 11 opportunities. Robert Morris leads the NEC with its .581 success rate on extra-man chances and had ranked second in the NCAA approaching the weekend.
"It's about our ability to create chaos throughout the game," said Gibson. "From the top to the bottom of the roster, everyone was full of energy and excitement. Communication was high, we were running around and Heger made saves that gave us chances in transition. When we're clicking in all those areas, we'll be fine."
Kealey opened the second half scoring from the close right wing to cap a deliberate possession with 2:12 gone by before Cleveland State finally got a pair 1:22 apart, including Tristan Hanna's 22nd of the campaign, to stop the bleeding. Gibson responded with his 22nd to keep the Vikings at a comfortable distance, giving the Major League Lacrosse draftee four hat tricks in 2019.
CSU continued to chip away, getting a man-up goal of its own, and Hanna completed his hat trick off the fourth quarter faceoff to reduce the lead to 10-7. The Colonials used the same bend-but-don't-break defense that got them through Wednesday's non-conference test to preserve it.
After they forced a bad pass by Sullivan, they once again used the ten-man ride against the Vikings.
Austin Popovich scored an impressive insurance marker from just beyond his own restraining line with 12:11 left in regulation, also allowing defenseman
Owen Down to earn his first career point on the assist.
Cleveland State got it back in a hurry, but Gibson forced a turnover with 10:30 to go, then Robert Morris roped the Vikings into another bad pass that stalled their next possession. Heger made back-to-back stops on Sullivan and Nick Wendel with under six minutes remaining, then Eveland backed up a wide shot that enabled RMU to eat up the clock until a wide-open Boudreau scored down the middle to salt the game away with 1:57 left.
"Defensively, I think we had every single close 'D' guy play, and that's so great for confidence," Eveland said, "because you can just go out and fly around, and go as hard as you can knowing the guy behind you can step up for two or three minutes.
"We knew that, if we did what we had to do, the ball would find the back of net eventually. We just executed and out-worked them."
The desperate Vikings emptied their cage again in search of a turnover and couldn't scramble back to cover in time when
Will Johansen provided the final margin. The British Columbia native dribbled the ball off a defender and just across the line for his first collegiate goal.
Robert Morris now turns its attention to two critical Northeast Conference games that will determine its ability to return to the postseason for the fourth year in a row. The Colonials will enter the first of those games, at Bryant next Saturday at 12:00 p.m. EDT, a battle-tested bunch.
"Complete respect toward [Cleveland State] and what they've done in a short period of time. We knew they were going to be competitive...and we prepared accordingly," said McMinn. "We certainly feel like we played well today, but we also won against a very high-powered and respected opponent."
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