SMITHFIELD, R.I. -- The last regularly scheduled gameday on the road for the
Robert Morris men's lacrosse team began typically for redshirt sophomore midfielder
Brad McCulley, with a customary pre-game meal at the team's hotel.
Its atypical ending is sure to make his morning routine the most copied one in the room heading into their final regular season contest next weekend.
"It was a sausage, an omlette...a Danish, and a coffee," he said, lightheartedly recalling what was on his plate. "It was just a simple little breakfast."
However little, it fueled McCulley through his biggest effort to date, as the Victoria, British Columbia native made Canadian bacon of the Bryant defense with a career-high five goals in the crucial moments of a 20-16 RMU victory over its Northeast Conference rival at Beirne Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The rain over the Senior Day proceedings was eclipsed in its unrelenting nature only by the Colonials attack, which drowned the Bulldogs (3-10, 1-5) with just the tenth 20-goal output in program history. It was the most voluminous one by Robert Morris (6-7, 3-2) since a 22-6 result versus Wagner Mar. 30, 2013.
"The way my teammates were working around me, they were moving the ball pretty well, and drawing guys up the field. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time for most of my goals," said McCulley after Bobby Mo prevailed at Bryant for the first time since Apr. 23, 2011. "I didn't have to do anything too crazy, just get to open space and get somebody who can release you."
Meanwhile, eight different Colonials combined for a season-high 16 assists, including three from junior attackman
Ryan Smith, who co-led all players with six points. McCulley's fellow middie, senior
Tyson Gibson, equaled those six points and tied his career high by picking up five apples, simultaneously matching Kyle Buchanan '12 (San Diego Seals, National Lacrosse League) for the most assists in team history, with 76.
The 36 total points, another 2019 high-water mark reached on this soggy day, represented the fifth-most in a single game in RMU lore, and the most since the Apr. 29, 2017 regular-season finale against Hobart at Joe Walton Stadium. In the process, the visitors extended a number of possessions, while keeping the Bulldogs at bay enough at the other end of the field, by collecting 41 ground balls, their most this year.
"We just had to stick to our game plan. They've 'out-ground-balled' us in the past, and (head) Coach (
Andrew McMinn) brought it up, so we just had to keep working hard in the second half," Smith said. "We stuck to that plan, and it just kept working out for us."
Another Senior Day matchup with the Statesmen awaits the Colonials next Saturday. A season-ending win, in most known scenarios, would put RMU into the NEC Men's Lacrosse Tournament for the fourth year in a row, with the campus site to be determined.
Any semblance of control over its own destiny, however, was not easily taken. Bryant had made it a one-goal game with 2:47 left in the first half, when a sidearm snipe by McCulley from a dozen yards out gave the 6'1", 200-pound Claremont Secondary product his ninth of the year and a 10-8 lead to Robert Morris.
Although he gave RMU a four- and five-goal cushion, its largest of the afternoon, early in the fourth quarter, the Bulldogs gave themselves hope with 6:19 left, scoring three times in a span of 2:35 to cut that lead to 17-15.
Trey Arnold, who went 17-for-27 (.630) on faceoffs and finished with a game-high ten GB's, won the ensuing scrum. That eventually allowed
Austin Popovich to set up McCulley for a rifle from the right elbow that beat goalkeeper Kevin Beimfohr for a huge insurance marker with 4:42 to play.
"It's a huge boost. He's a guy who works hard in practice every day, and every time he gets an opportunity, he takes control of it," said Smith.
The 6'2", 220-pound Burlington, Ontario native set up McCulley with a long toss from X that the latter converted from the left side to complete the fourth Robert Morris hat trick of the game with 11:32 remaining. A Colonial has registered one in 22 of their last 23 games, and RMU became the tenth Division I team with four in one game this season.
"Coach has always preached leaning on the guys in front of you. We do it for each other, for the guy next to us," McCulley said. "I think that's why we've been able to handle teams later in games, just because of our work ethic.
"We work all throughout practice on the little things: running and sprinting around, and doing every play like it's your last."
Robert Morris was chasing the game at first. Bryant outraced the Colonials for five unanswered goals in the first quarter, setting the tone for the high-scoring affair, but RMU shortened the Bulldogs' leash with a timely, and pivotal, 7-0 run.
Smith responded to an early hat trick by Ryan Cerino with his eighth HT of the campaign in a span of 2:21 to close out the opening frame. After
Will Johansen stopped the bleeding right off a faceoff win and
Corson Kealey buried one from close range to trim Bryant's advantage to 5-3, Smith got his 30th goal of the year on a turnaround shot from the left wing and tied the game from in tight just 14 seconds later, on a give-and-go with
Matt Schmidt.
The players reversed roles in the final minute to give the Colonials the lead, with Schmidt faking out a defender and scoring his 20th from an angle on the left wing, before Gibson found the hot-handed Smith on Beimfohr's doorstep again, five seconds before the horn.
Kealey closed out the second-quarter scoring, putting Robert Morris up 12-8 at the break with a textbook transition goal from the right edge of the crease to cap the sophomore's team-leading ninth hatty of 2019. Fellow attackman Schmidt broke out the chapeaus on RMU's final tally of the third period, a bullet from his familiar spot on the left side with 3:09 to go that made it 15-11 Colonials.
The redshirt senior, who assisted McCulley's first goal, had a front-row seat to watch the substitute midfielder fluster Beimfohr with that unique sidearm delivery down the stretch.
"I think playing box lacrosse is huge," said McCulley, reflecting upon the influence of his indoor experience with the Victoria Junior Shamrocks amateur squad. "Tighter spaces, smaller nets and bigger goalies--you've really got to change up your release points, and, wherever you want to put the ball, you've got to keep the goalie guessing. I change up my shots a lot...and that definitely comes from playing box lacrosse."
While the older of the Kealey brothers continues to play the indoor game professionally, the younger one grabbed his NEC-leading 40th goal from the top of the crease with time ticking down in regulation before freshman
Taggart Clark beat a ten-man ride for his first RMU goal, wrapping up his team's scoring.
It punctuated an understandably difficult day for both keepers, but senior
Alex Heger was key to the Colonials' fast-break offense nonetheless, with 12 saves. He got help in the form of a pair of caused turnovers from
Dylan Sidoriak, as well as three ground balls from both
Mike Eveland and
Jack Toomb, who became the third Robert Morris player to obtain 200 for his career.
RMU returns home with a five-game winning streak, tied for its second-longest under McMinn. It also won five straight at the peak of its 2018 run (Feb. 24-Mar. 24) to the program's first NEC Tournament title and NCAA Tournament berth.
When Hobart visits Joe Walton Stadium next Saturday at 1:00 p.m. EDT on NEC Front Row, it will face a confident Colonials team, including 11 members of the Class of '19 who will be honored before the game, that still has a chance to repeat history.
"As Coach keeps stressing, we're not focused on winning or losing. We're just focused on doing the little things well," said Smith. "That's going to get us the results that we want."
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