Men's Lacrosse | 2/22/2020 9:08:00 AM
Moon Township, Pa. – Coming off an impressive 22-10 season-opening victory at Canisius on Feb. 15, the Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team continues its three-game swing away from Moon Township with a neutral site contest against Jacksonville on Sunday, Feb. 23 at U.S. Lacrosse Headquarters. The Colonials follow this match up two days later with a bout at Drexel, then return to Joe Walton Stadium to face High Point on Saturday, Feb. 29 for its 2020 home debut.
GAME #2
Robert Morris Colonials (1-0, 0-0 NEC) vs. Jacksonville Dolphins (1-1, 0-0 SoCon)
Sunday, February 23, 2020 // Noon // Sparks, Md. – U.S. Lacrosse Headquarters (2,000)
Live Video: N/A // Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
History w/ Jacksonville
Overall: 3-1 | Home: 1-0 | Away: 2-1 | Neutral: 0-0 | Streak: L1
Last Game: March 11, 2015 – Jacksonville, Fla. – Jacksonville 18, Robert Morris 13
Robert Morris is 3-1 all-time against Jacksonville, as the two teams played four times from 2011-15. This will be the first neutral site meeting between the sides, with three of the four previous matchups coming in the Sunshine State.
The Dolphins used a 7-2 difference in the third quarter to come back and knock off the Colonials in 2015, 18-13. Eric Rankel led the visitors with two goals and four assists, while Luke Laszkiewicz, Jacob Ruest, Adrian Torok-Orban, Eric Wales, and Carter Yepsen all contributed braces.
Scouting the Dolphins
Jacksonville enters this matchup with a 1-1 record, falling by a single goal in its season opener against Detroit Mercy, 15-14, before defeating Marquette on the road, 11-9. Under fourth-year head coach John Galloway, the Dolphins are coming off a 5-2 mark in Southern Conference (SoCon) play last season and were picked to finish fourth in the league ahead of the 2020 campaign.
Redshirt senior midfielder Evan Tyler paces Jacksonville with nine points (5g, 4a) thus far, while freshman attackman Jacob Greiner has a team-best six goals and eight points in his first two collegiate contests. Junior midfielder Jack Dolan leads the team in assists (7), and between the pipes a pair of seniors (Adam Baker, Hunter Sells) have shared time. Baker owns the better goals against average (8.95), while Sells has a higher save percentage (.464) in nearly equal time.
Off and Running
Senior attackman Ryan Smith began his final hurrah in an epic way, topping the RMU single-game standard for points with 10 in a 22-10 triumph at Canisius on Feb. 15. Smith's 10 points came the way of eight goals – tying the program record – and two assists, as the Colonials racked up their most goals in a season opener since 2010 (W, 24-17 at Penn State).
Smith's 10-point afternoon topped the previous nine-point efforts of Jake Hayes and Luke Laszkiewicz (twice), while the eight goals matched Laszkiewicz's tally on April 19, 2016 at Canisius. RMU more than doubled up the Golden Griffins in shots, 60-27, and went a perfect 19-of-19 on clear attempts.
New in Net
Junior goaltender Ben Savick made a statement in his NCAA Division I debut at Canisius on Feb. 15, making six saves while allowing just a pair of goals in 30 minutes. Savick helped the Colonials carry a 9-2 advantage into the break, giving way to other three goalies after halftime to finish the game out.
Savick previously started 27 contests at Division II program Palm Beach Atlantic University, who began its inaugural season of competition during the goaltender's freshman year in 2018. The Port Deposit, Md. product finished with a .525 save percentage as a sophomore, and made the SSC All-Freshman Team in his debut campaign.
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 32-20 (.615) overall and 12-6 (.667) in league play in their careers, also achieving the program's single-season win mark (13, 2018) and first postseason win (2018 NCAA Tournament at Canisius).
Entering 2020 with 31 wins, only six other classes have collected more than that 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 (Colorado Mammoth), 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 finishes up a three-game swing away from home to open 2020 when it clashes with Drexel on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
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