Men's Lacrosse | 2/14/2020 10:45:00 AM
Moon Township, Pa. – After a two-week wait, the Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team finally begins its 2020 season on Saturday, Feb. 15 with a road matchup at Canisius. The Colonials are the lone Northeast Conference (NEC) team not to play an actual game yet, with a pair of scrimmages two weeks ago against Denison and Seton Hill being their only competition. RMU plays its first two games away from Moon Township before returning to Joe Walton Stadium to face High Point on Saturday, Feb. 29 for its home opener.
GAME #1
Robert Morris Colonials (0-0, 0-0 NEC) @ Canisius Golden Griffins (0-1, 0-0 MAAC)
Saturday, February 15, 2020 // 3:30 p.m. // Victor, N.Y. – Pinnacle Sports Complex
Live Video: N/A // Live Stats: GoGriffs.com
History w/ Canisius
Overall: 7-6 | Home: 3-3 | Away: 4-3 | Neutral: 0-0 | Streak: L1
Last Game: March 9, 2019 – Moon Township, Pa. – Canisius 12, Robert Morris 8
Robert Morris owns a slight 7-6 edge in the all-time series with Canisius, previously winning seven straight meetings before last season's home defeat. The Colonials knocked the Golden Griffins off twice in 2018, beating them in the regular season, 11-9, before doubling them up in the NCAA Tournament, 12-6.
Canisius got the better of RMU at Joe Walton Stadium last year, earning a 12-8 victory. Tyson Gibson '19 finished with four points (2g, 2a), while Jake Boudreau added a pair of goals and an assist. The hosts outshot the Golden Griffins, 43-34, but their goalie Brad Nordstrom stopped 15 shots to help lift the visitors to a win.
Scouting the Golden Griffins
Canisius fell in its season opener on Feb. 8 at Hobart, 22-8, and is coming off an 8-8 (4-3 MAAC) campaign in 2019. Led by third-year head coach Mark Miyashita, the Golden Griffins were selected to finish fourth in the annual MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Senior midfielders Mathieu Bossionneault and Carter Stefaniak were picked to the Preseason All-MAAC squad. Boissonneault is a two-time All-MAAC selection and finished with 40 points (28g, 12a) in 14 games last season, while Stefaniak recorded 29 goals and nine helpers in 15 contests en route to All-MAAC First Team plaudits. Sophomore attackman Jacob Buck collected MAAC Offensive Player of the Week accolades after scoring six goals against the Statesmen in the 2020 lidlifter.
New Format, Same Expectations
Coming off back-to-back NEC Tournament championships, Robert Morris was selected to finish on the top of the NEC West Division by receiving six of nine possible first-place votes. The conference split into two divisions with the additions of Long Island, Merrimack, and NJIT, and five teams qualify for the postseason with the fourth and fifth seeds competing in a play-in contest.
The Colonials were unanimously projected to capture the NEC crown prior to last season, and lived up to that notion in the end after punching their ticket to the league tournament on the final day of the regular season. RMU has gone 4-2 in the NEC in four straight campaigns, making the NEC Tournament in each of them.
All-NEC Returnees
RMU returns a pair of All-NEC honorees in attackmen Ryan Smith and Brandon Sulhoff, as well as the league's top scorer in Corson Kealey. The trio combined to score 101 goals last season, and finished with 132 points between them.
Smith is a three-time All-NEC selection, making two Second Teams and collecting Rookie of the Year honors in 2017. He finished second in the team in goals (40) and assists (20) last season, and third in points (60), and ranked inside the top 10 of the NEC in each of those categories.
Kealey won NEC Player of the Week three times in 2019 and came a goal shy of tying the school record. The junior finished with a league-high 52 tallies and 62 points, highlighted by a pair of six-goal efforts. He enters this year with a 19-game point streak and ranks third in program history in goals per game (1.94).
Sulhoff earned All-NEC Rookie Team accolades after providing 10 points (9g, 1a) in a key reserve role. He posted a pair of two-goal efforts and scored in the Colonials' thrilling NEC Tournament semifinal win at top-seeded Mount St. Mary's.
Can We Get (Another) Encore?
RMU will lean on the leadership of eight seniors this season in hopes of joining Bryant (2012-15) as the only programs to win three consecutive NEC Tournament titles. The group of fourth-years (Trey Arnold, Alex Cash, Ciaron Costello, Brad McCulley, Austin Popovich, Chris Reynolds, James Scane, Ryan Smith) have gone 31-20 (.608) overall and 12-6 (.667) in league play over their first three seasons, also achieving the program's single-season win mark (13, 2018) and first postseason win (2018 NCAA Tournament at Canisius).
Only six other classes have collected more than 31 wins over a four-year span, highlighted by the 39 victories the 2012 seniors recorded. That group went 9-7 in 2009 to achieve the program's first winning season and posted a pair of 10-win campaigns in 2010 (10) and 2012 (11), the latter season ending with the Colonials' first NEC regular-season title.
New to RMU
The Colonials will look to receive production from a 17-player newcomer class consisting of 13 freshmen and four transfers. The class is represented from eight different states or Canadian provinces (California, Connecticut, Maryland, New Jersey, North Carolina, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania), with Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania featuring four newcomers each.
Entering their first seasons of collegiate lacrosse are Trevor Barrett, Luke Hallman, Zach Hamilton, Bryce Henise, Elliot Holden, Brandon Infante, James Leary, Blake Lori, Brady Ludewig, Matt McShea, Torin Neal, Liam Rosenthal, and Ben Starkey. Shaun Vines and Eli Doyle arrive as juniors from Harford Community College, Johnny Chaisson is a sophomore transfer from Howard Community College, and Ben Savick played his first two seasons at NCAA Division II program Palm Beach Atlantic University.
From Bobby Mo to Pro
Robert Morris has the highest representation of any college or university in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) this season, with 11 former Colonials playing for 10 different teams. RMU edges out notable schools such as Ohio State (9), Syracuse (8), Drexel (6), and Canisius (6) for the honor.
Kevin Brownell (Buffalo Bandits), Kyle Buchanan (San Diego Seals), Tyler Digby (New York Riptide), Tyson Gibson (New York Riptide), JonPatrik Kealey (Rochester Knighthawks), Luc Magnan (Halifax Thunderbirds), Kiel Matisz (Philadelphia Wings), James Rahe (Vancouver Warriors), Justin Robinson (Saskatchewan Rush), Jacob Ruest (Colorado Mammoth), and Mitch Wilde (Calgary Roughnecks) make up the Colonial contingent in the NLL.
On Sept. 17, 2019, Tyson Gibson was selected by the expansion franchise New York Riptide with the first overall selection in the NLL Entry Draft. Gibson became the fifth RMU player ever to be chosen in the first round, and topped Kiel Matisz (1st round, 3rd overall in 2012) as the earliest pick in program history.
Coming Up
Robert Morris continues a three-game swing away from home to open 2020 when it faces Jacksonville on Sunday, Feb. 23 in a neutral-site contest at U.S. Lacrosse Headquarters.
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