MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The
Robert Morris men's lacrosse team wants to play every game like it's at Joe Walton Stadium, as
Corson Kealey aptly put it after its Northeast Conference contest versus Wagner.
What the sophomore attackman neglected to point out, however, was that changing the name of the venue to Cors' Field might be more appropriate.
The red-hot Kealey scorched the Green and White with his second double hat trick of the season, and the Colonials (3-7, 2-2) cruised to a 17-6 win over the visiting Seahawks (2-9, 0-3) Saturday afternoon. He joins
Luke Laszkiewicz, who accomplished the feat on three occasions as a senior in 2016, as the only other Robert Morris player with two or more double HT's in the same year.
Kealey, the conference's reigning Player of the Week, has broken out the chapeaus an RMU-best seven times in 2019. The 5'11", 180-pound Ottawa, Ontario native and Everest Academy product now has six of those hat tricks over his past five outings, including four in as many games against NEC competition.
Through Saturday, he is pacing the conference with an average of 3.10 tallies per game. Kealey's latest outburst put him on target for, minimally, a 43-goal campaign, which would be the third-best finish in program history, and seven more than fellow attackman
Matt Schmidt's team-leading total of 36 in 2018 (tied for sixth all-time).
"It's really just about buying into the program and getting everyone on the same page," he said after tying Joe Saggese of Sacred Heart for the NEC lead in goals with 31, and doing so in one fewer game than the Major League Lacrosse draftee. "Luckily, I just happen to be on the rewarding end of some of our plays."
Robert Morris was holding onto a 6-5 edge to begin the third quarter when his luck was, truly, the residue of design.
The Colonials controlled the opening faceoff, but goalkeeper Matt Sefcik stopped Schmidt on their first shot attempt of the opening possession. After Sefcik denied Schmidt a second time from the close left wing, Kealey immediately tried to knock the rebound loose from the crosse of Riley Owens. His second effort, in fact, forced Owens to cough up the ball into his own net with 13:46 to go for Kealey's fifth goal of the day, which touched off an 8-0 romp by RMU through the period.
"I think a big part of it was, at halftime, reflecting upon where we were at through those first 30 minutes, and telling the guys there was an opportunity to up the pace more," head coach
Andrew McMinn said. "We want to make sure we're dictating it at all times. We felt like, in those first 30, we were a little bit more at the pace that [Wagner] like[s] to play at.
"We talked about just coming out of the gate and firing on all cylinders--to set that tone and send that message to begin the second half. We're glad they stepped up and responded to that."
With 12:22 remaining in the third, junior attackman
Ryan Smith recovered nicely from defensive pressure deep in the left wing and tossed across the field to Kealey, who ripped it from the right side to cap the 16th double hatty in team history.
"Our effort, overall, was impressive. Everyone was going out there, buying in and working their hardest," said Kealey. "We wanted to give even more effort and energy than we did in the first half, and run them out of our stadium."
The Colonials, who entered the weekend among the top 15 squads in Division I scoring offense, indeed proved how difficult they are to catch once they get going.
Eddie Smith casually flipped a pass to
Brad McCulley, whose sudden, low line drive from distance gave Robert Morris a 9-5 lead with 10:41 left.
Just thirty-eight seconds later, their vaunted transition game took over. Spencer Kaufman's long-range attempt was stopped by
Alex Heger, and the RMU senior's outlet pass to
Austin Popovich led to a ferocious coast-to-coast score from the right wing, as Popovich matched McCulley with his sixth of the year for a 10-5 cushion.
The subsequent Wagner timeout was not enough to close the floodgates. The defense then got involved at the other end, with senior long-stickman
Jack Toomb setting up
Ryan Smith for a successful overhand shot that made it 11-5 for the home side with just over seven minutes until the horn.
Smith got his 24th of the season, completing his four-point effort, under a minute later, when Heger stuffed Dan Hughes from point blank and outraced the Seahawks himself. Mirroring his unconventional goalie-to-FOGOÂ play two weeks ago, Heger fed the Burlington, Ontario native, who split the defense and scored from atop the circle.
"We started a bit slow in the first half, but we flicked a switch in the second half...and the defense gave me some good shots," said Heger, who finished with 14 saves in over 54 minutes of action and helped RMU hold Wagner scoreless for 18:33 at one point. "One of our main points is dictating tempo, making sure we're controlling their pace, and forcing them to their weak hand and into taking bad shots.
"That's what we focused on in the second half, and we came out and played big."
He and Toomb shared the team lead with four ground balls apiece. Toomb was also credited with his 60th career caused turnover, tying him with
Tyler Rankel '14 for fifth in the RMU books, and the Colonials saw the Seahawks commit 20 turnovers in all while limiting themselves to eight miscues.
Defensively, Robert Morris also continued to improve its stead in man-down situations, ending the game 2-for-3. Nic Ancona got a man-up marker to cut RMU's lead to 4-3 with 10:29 left in the second quarter, but the Colonials killed off a one-minute slashing major early in the fourth, as well as a holding minor with time ticking away.
They also used special teams to round out the scoring. Schmidt collected his 17th goal of the year and team-leading fifth EMO tally from the far left wing just before an offside call on Jack Brady expired, and McCulley, right behind Schmidt in man-up goals, got his fourth one of those this season in the final seconds, during a two-minute non-releasable.
Senior midfielder
Tyson Gibson, who now has points in 31 of his last 32 games dating back to 2017, quietly matched Kealey's game-best six points by assisting on both goals. Gibson, drafted by MLL's Atlanta Blaze Mar. 9, has retaken sole possession of the team lead in points with 40 this season, and he has slingshot into sixth place on its all-time chart with 132.
The two-time All-NEC selection passed down low to fellow Ontarian Kealey for the first of his back-to-back goals that opened the scoring 2:56 into the game. Wagner answered with a pair from John Norton, but Kealey notched the first of his hat tricks by spinning off a defender and beating Sefcik to the short side, and Gibson, backpedaling against the grain, found the net on a bounce, making it 4-2 RMU on goals 1:28 apart early in the second quarter.
"Our main focus is to come out with a better 60 minutes every time out," Heger said. "For the most part, we had the effort, and we had the intensity. It was a really good day for us."
By the end of the day, with some help from their NEC brethren, the Colonials had willed themselves back into the playoff race with two critical conference matchups to end the season. First, however, Robert Morris will prepare for one of two non-conference affairs next week: a first-ever meeting with No. 14/15 Lehigh.
The opening faceoff against the Mountain Hawks from the Ulrich Sports Complex in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania is scheduled for 5:00 p.m. EDT Wednesday and can be seen live on the Patriot League Network.
"That's what we've talked about all year. Regardless of where we've been, we still have an opportunity to accomplish the goals we laid out, which are to win the conference and get to the NCAA Tournament to compete for a national championship," said McMinn. "We feel like we're starting to trend in the direction we want to, and starting to play the type of ball that we want to play, and we plan on doing that moving forward."
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