Men's Lacrosse | 4/19/2019 8:09:00 PM
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The
Robert Morris men's lacrosse team visits the Bulldogs of Bryant University for its penultimate 2019 regular-season game Saturday. The opening faceoff of the Northeast Conference contest is set for 12:00 p.m. EDT at Beirne Stadium in Smithfield, Rhode Island and can be seen live on NEC Front Row.
Robert Morris (5-7, 2-2) at Bryant (3-9, 1-4)
Apr. 20 (12:00 p.m.) - LIVE STREAM | LIVE STATS
RMU is riding a four-game winning streak after its 13-8 victory over Division I independent Cleveland State on its first-ever trip to Krenzler Field in Cleveland last Saturday. The Colonials rallied furiously after allowing the game's first two goals, building an 8-3 halftime lead they never surrendered, and never letting the Vikings within more than three.
They are wrapping up their regular campaign with their final two conference games of the year. A fifth consecutive win would put Robert Morris in position to clinch a berth in the Northeast Conference Men's Lacrosse Tournament for the fourth year in a row with another victory on Senior Day at Joe Walton Stadium next Saturday.
With two weeks left in the season, and two NEC games on the docket in Week 11, including this one, all four playoff spots are still, mathematically, on the table.
Robert Morris used a big second half to put down Bryant, 12-5, on May 3, 2018 in the NEC Semifinal at Saint Joseph's University's Sweeney Field, the last meeting between these teams.
Brad McCulley, one of six different players with multiple points and eight different goal scorers, netted a pair, and
Tyson Gibson also scored twice for the Colonials, adding an assist.
RMU will try to do what it has not done since a 16-15 win Apr. 23, 2011: beat the Bulldogs in Smithfield. Kyle Buchanan '12 (San Diego Seals, NLL) had three goals that day, including the game-winner with 2:35 left, and six points to lead the team.
SCOUTING BRYANT
The Bulldogs led 11-10 with five minutes to go, but Hobart scored the final two goals of their Northeast Conference contest in Geneva, New York last Saturday, tying the game at 11 with 4:54 to play and scoring the game-winner with 2:48 remaining. They close out the NEC portion of their 2019 schedule with Saturday's Senior Day game at Beirne Stadium. Bryant has now dropped four of five one-goal decisions this year, while Robert Morris has split two such games on the road.
Redshirt freshman midfielder Nick Beeson had his third multi-goal game in a row against the Statesmen, and he has scored seven goals in his last three games and added an assist and two ground balls. Marc O'Rourke, who chipped in two assists on the afternoon, also scored a goal for the 16th consecutive game, which was the 11th-longest streak in the nation entering Week 10.
The sophomore attackman and 2018 NEC Rookie of the Year got a hat trick against the Colonials in last year's NEC Semifinal and another three points (G, 2 A) in the last regular-season meeting between the teams, at Joe Walton Stadium Mar. 30, 2018. Senior Kevin Beimfohr, meanwhile, matched his career-high with 15 saves at Hobart, and he combined for 13 over both games against RMU as a junior.
MUSKET SHOTS
To The Victor Go The Spoils
Corson Kealey and
Alex Heger reclaimed the NEC Player and Defensive Player of the Week awards for Week 10 after taking those respective honors in Week 8. Kealey topped RMU with seven points (5 G, 2 A) over its two games and kept pace with Joe Saggese (Sacred Heart) for the NEC lead in goals, with 36. Heger posted a .600 aggregate save percentage, making a season-high 18 stops at No. 17 Lehigh Apr. 10 and assisting on
Mike Eveland's goal at Cleveland State Saturday, his third helper in five games.
The 'Land Defends
Eveland was named both an NEC Prime Performer and USILA Division I Team of the Week selection for the first time ever after topping his team with eight ground balls in Week 10. He scooped four at Cleveland State last Saturday, also causing a pair of turnovers, and he scored his first "long pole goal" in 56 games as a collegian during the second quarter.
Caps For Sale
A Colonial has recorded a hat trick in 21 of the past 22 games. Kealey recorded his team-best eighth of the year at No. 17 Lehigh and has four in as many games, while
Ryan Smith broke out the chapeaus for the seventh time as a junior with his team-leading four-goal effort. Gibson, who registered his fourth of the season, and
Jake Boudreau, who earned the first of his career, each collected HT's at Cleveland State last Saturday.
Heggs 'N 'At
Heger was named to the Tewaaraton Award Watch List for the second straight year Mar. 1, one of two NEC players and five goalies in all of D-I who made that cut. Heger averages 12.58 saves per game, ranking 16th in the NCAA, and he made 15 against Bryant in the NEC Semifinal May 3, 2018 en route to tournament MVP honors. On Apr. 14, at the 25th RMU Athletics All-Sports Awards Banquet, he was named the Outstanding Male Senior for the 2018-19 year.
Canadian Bakin'
RMU has three Canadians among the NEC's top ten in points. Gibson, Smith and Kealey, the team co-leaders, are all tied for fifth 44 apiece. The Colonials average 21.92 points per game, second in the NEC and 13th in the nation. Their 2019 roster, with 15 Canucks in all, has both the most Canadians and international players altogether in both the NEC and NCAA.
An EMO Band
The Colonials have scored on ten of their last 12 extra-man opportunities after Gibson's goal in the final minute of the first half at CSU last Saturday. The third-quarter strike by
Brad McCulley at No. 17 Lehigh tied him with
Matt Schmidt, the RMU leader, at five EMO markers apiece in 2019, three off the Division I pace. Robert Morris, entering Week 11, leads the NEC with its .581 conversion rate in man-up situations, also ranking second in the NCAA.
Schmidt Show
Schmidt leads active Colonials with 88 career goals, having passed
Adrian Torok-Orban '18 for eighth in RMU history with his game-winner at No. 17 Lehigh. His 18th career man-up goal Apr. 6 tied him with
Luke Laszkiewicz for the third-most in RMU history. Last Saturday he registered his 123rd career point, tying him for tenth all-time with
Jake Hayes '13. Schmidt's next goal will tie him with the former Calgary Roughneck for seventh in that category.
Climbing The Apple Tree
With two games remaining, both against NEC opponents, the Colonials are now up to sixth in the NCAA with their average of 8.67 assists per game.
Tyson Gibson, with 71 all-time, has a chance to break Class of '12 Kyle Buchanan's all-time program record of 76. He is tied for second in the NEC with 1.83 per game and leads the NEC with a 3.00 clip in conference play.
Squad Goals
The 17 goals scored by RMU versus Wagner Apr. 6 were its most since an identical 17-6 decision over the Seahawks at home Apr. 8, 2017. Robert Morris averages 13.25 per game, ranking 15th in Division I. Kealey's 3.00 goals per game, tied for the conference lead, are tied for 14th in D-I, while Smith (t-5th; 2.42) and Gibson (9th; 1.83) have cracked the NEC's top ten as well.
Blaze Of Glory
Gibson has a point in 33 of his last 34 games dating back to 2017. He now has 136 all-time, putting him in sixth place in RMU history. He padded his senior resume with a nomination for the Senior CLASS (Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School®) Award, one of the premier citizenship honors in D-I athletics, and his selection by the Atlanta Blaze in the 2019 Major League Lacrosse Draft with the 41st pick of the fifth round.
Drawing A Blank
On Feb. 23 the Colonials shut out Bellarmine for the final 33:44. It was their longest stretch of scoreless ball since going 35:07 without yielding a goal in a 14-5 home win over Cleveland State Apr. 14, 2018. RMU made a 9-0 run over 28:13 in its first-ever victory at CSU Saturday.
Give It Away, Give It Away, Give It Away Now
Robert Morris averages 9.75 caused turnovers per game, second in the NEC and 13th in the country.
Zachary Bryant '18, who finished second in program history with 77, was recognized for his back-to-back team MVP awards and 2018 NEC Spring Scholar-Athlete honor at the RMU Athletics All-Sports Awards Banquet last Sunday.
Ground Round
Jack Toomb needs three more ground balls to become the third player in RMU history to collect 200 for his career, and the first defenseman with this distinction. Two other active Colonials are in the program's top ten entering Saturday:
Trey Arnold, with 163 (5th), and
Alex Heger, with 131 (8th).
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