MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- In order to avoid the risk of becoming history, the Robert Morris men's lacrosse team, led by its 11 members of the university's Class of '19, repeated history on Senior Day at Joe Walton Stadium Saturday afternoon.

Redshirt senior Matt Schmidt, accepting a pass from fellow attackman Ryan Smith, rocketed a shot from the low left wing that beat goalkeeper Sam Lucchesi top shelf 40 seconds into overtime to give the Colonials (7-7, 4-2) a come-from-behind, 16-15 win over erstwhile Northeast Conference co-leader Hobart in the teams' regular season finale.

Four of their five all-time meetings at Joe Walton Stadium have been decided by a single goal, as have the last three games in the all-time series, and each of those three have been marked by sharp momentum swings. Hobart took a 15-11 lead after watching RMU climb out of an 11-8 hole in the third quarter.

"Hat's off to the entire roster, starting with our seniors, who, coming out on Senior Day, bought into who we want to be at all times," head coach Andrew McMinn said. "Just keep trying our best to improve and make the next play. It's a game reflective of our mindset, where we were down and out, it seemed, at times, but just kept clawing back, and those guys just kept making plays, so I couldn't be more proud."

"It was unbelievable. We fought so hard throughout that whole game, and to finish like that in our last home game at the Joe...man, does that feel amazing," said Schmidt. "I'm so proud of all these guys. I couldn't have put that ball in the net without everyone else.

"It's surreal, to say the least."

By completing his fifth hat trick of the season, Schmidt extended what could have been, at times, a lost season for Robert Morris. The Doylestown, Pennsylvania native and Central Bucks East product, who slammed the door on the Statesmen (10-4, 4-2) in sudden-victory fashion from roughly that same spot on the field over a year ago, assured the defending playoff champs a fourth consecutive trip to the NEC Men's Lacrosse Tournament.

RMU, which overcame a five-game skid by winning six in a row, tying its program-record run during McMinn's 2012 head coaching debut, conquered its four-goal deficit in the final 10:25 of regulation. Smith provided the equalizer with 52 seconds to spare before another junior, Trey Arnold, won the ensuing faceoff and helped draw a slashing major on Dan Ryan in the final half-minute of play, giving his team the all-important first and last possession of OT.

"Coach McMinn just kept preaching the message of dead soldiers fighting," said Smith, after leading the Colonials with four goals, "even going into the fourth quarter, when we were down by four. We're already dead. We don't care about the result. We just want to go out there and do every little thing right, and it turned out on our side today."

Robert Morris set the standard blue-collar tone for its big finish by gobbling up 13 of 14 ground balls in that final regulation period. Senior midfielder Tyson Gibson collected a career-high seven GB's on Saturday to match his game-high seven points, which included another five-assist effort.

The Maple, Ontario native and St. Michael's College School standout also produced seven points, his previous career high, on Hobart's Apr. 29, 2017 Senior Day visit to RMU. With 81 assists as a collegian, he is the program's new all-time leader in helpers.

"I heard a couple guys mention that earlier in the week, and I'm absolutely honored to hold that record. But it wouldn't feel the same if we didn't have the win," Gibson said. "And it was a great win today."

Smith and Schmidt started the day promisingly for the Colonials, each scoring in the first 3:20. Gibson drew a double-team and connected with a wide-open Corson Kealey with 7:35 left in the opening frame, and the sophomore attackman drove the net and buried an underhand shot for a 3-1 Robert Morris advantage, giving his co-captain the apple that surpassed Class of '12 Kyle Buchanan's career mark (76).

Arnold, meanwhile, matched up commendably against Matthew Pedicine, one of the premier FOGO's in Division I, going 11-for-23 (.478) with five ground balls. He took three of his four draws in the fourth quarter and enjoyed his second career multi-goal game with a pair of first-half strikes.

The Statesmen answered with 4:18 remaining, but the Colonials then controlled the faceoff, and Gibson, playing pitch-and-catch with Arnold, fed the Suwanee, Georgia native on the right wing for the first of those two goals just ten seconds later.

What followed were the first of five ties and three lead changes over a span of nearly 19 minutes. Arnold went bull-in-a-china-shop to knot the score at five apiece with 12:21 to go in the second quarter, then Gibson made it 6-6 on a razzle-dazzle wraparound maneuver from X that led to his 24th goal of the season.

The 34th of the campaign by Smith, who now has three hat tricks in his last four outings, was anything but perfunctory as well. Senior goalkeeper Alex Heger denied Justin Scott from close range, then, in familiar fashion, outraced two Statesmen beyond the 30-yard restraining line.

Just as he looked ready to rock and fire, he dished off to an open Smith, who went upstairs on Heger's counterpart from the close left side to give his team a 7-6 edge and send the Colonial faithful into a frenzy.

"I wanted to [shoot] super bad, but I saw the defense slide once I wound up," Heger laughed after carbon-copying a play he made against Mount St. Mary's earlier in the season for his fourth assist of the year. "A point's a point, right?"

The decorated Carmel (Indiana) High School alumnus scattered nine saves for his 31st career win in net, padding his RMU record. He and his mates also got into penalty trouble, however, in the second half, and Hobart seemed to take control by going on a three-goal jaunt that began with a man-up marker on backup goalie Chris Reynolds.

Undaunted, Gibson scored unassisted before Brad McCulley got an extra-man goal of his own, his team-leading sixth, then Smith alertly got a ground ball and beat Lucchesi in one fell swoop for an 11-11 deadlock.

Still, it looked like special teams might prove RMU's undoing when NEC Player of the Week Chris Aslanian followed Derrek Madonna's EMO goal with his second of those in the third quarter. Bryan Hancock tacked on at even strength a mere 13 seconds afterward.

Robert Morris wasn't ready to give up the ship, much less its shot at another NEC 'ship.

"It's our mentality of dead soldiers fighting," Heger explained. "We don't look at the scoreboard. We don't care what's going on. We just make sure that we're playing our best ball, and putting our best effort on the field at all times."

When the Statesmen ramped up their efforts to clog the Colonials' passing lanes, Kealey outworked multiple defenders for a ground ball right near the crease. The Ottawa, Ontario native promptly scored his conference co-leading 42nd goal, and the Battle of the Diplomats was back on.

Fellow sophomore Jake Boudreau delivered one of his best clutch performances from the RMU midfield, beginning with his goal from the top of the crease a minute later, aided by a fabulous shot-pass from Gibson.

"I think our season shows that lacrosse is a game of runs, whether you're talking play by play or game by game," Gibson said. "But we always have the mentality, and our little saying, like Heger said, of 'dead soldiers fighting.' We're not looking at the scoreboard, we're just looking at the next play and focusing on us."

Lucchesi hung tough as RMU pressed, but so did Heger at the other end. His defense dug in long enough for Schmidt to score from distance, taking a short toss from Boudreau to make it a one-goal game with 2:18 to play.

Although Hobart regained possession, Gibson, who has a career-high 11 caused turnovers in 2019, forced a miscue by the Statesmen after they had called timeout. He went down low to Boudreau, who, in the blink of an eye, hit Smith right in front for the heroic one-timer that preceded Schmidt's overtime dagger.

"Knowing all the hard work they've put in over these four years, to end their last home game and send them out like that is such a good feeling," said Smith.

"During a timeout, we said, 'Hey, we started off the season 1-7, and look where we're at right now.' Being down again, within a game, was a little microcosm of that," McMinn said. "We said, 'How are we going to respond?' As we have all year, the guys focused on just going out and making more plays.

"These seniors could not be more deserving. Couldn't be more proud of them."

Before the Cardiac Colonials had their last home-field hurrah, Mount St. Mary's won its own, concurrent nail-biter over visiting St. Joseph's, meaning Robert Morris will visit the top-seeded Mountaineers in the first of two NEC Semifinal games Thursday. The opening faceoff from Waldron Family Stadium in Emmitsburg, Maryland is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. EDT and can be seen live on NEC Front Row.

"Just play like you have nothing to lose, right?" said Schmidt. "You just forget about what the scoreboard says, go out there and play your best lacrosse. We do it every day. Why not do it then? We came out [Saturday], played hot and it worked out."

Could RMU, the conference's hottest team entering the postseason and last year's NCAA Tournament flag-bearer, play the role of road warrior yet again?

Gibson, grinning unabashedly after closing the latest chapter in his storybook career, seemed to know the answer:

"Don't let Bobby Mo get hot."

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