Men's Lacrosse | 2/24/2020 1:03:00 PM
Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team looks to rebound from a 15-8 defeat against Jacksonville on Sunday when it travels across the state to play Drexel on Tuesday, Feb. 25. This match between the Colonials and Dragons concludes a three-game road swing to begin the 2020 campaign, as RMU has its home opener against High Point up next on Saturday, Feb. 29 from Joe Walton Stadium.
GAME #3
Robert Morris Colonials (1-1, 0-0 NEC) @ Drexel Dragons (0-2, 0-0 CAA)
Tuesday, February 25, 2020 // 4:00 p.m. // Philadelphia, Pa. – Vidas Field (1,500)
Live Video: Dragons TV // Live Stats: Stat Broadcast
History w/ Drexel
Overall: 1-6 | Home: 1-2 | Away: 0-3 | Neutral: 0-1 | Streak: L2
Last Game: March 1, 2014 – Philadelphia, Pa. – No. 15 Drexel 18, Robert Morris 12
Robert Morris is just 1-6 all-time against Drexel, with its lone victory coming in 2009. The Colonials fell in their last two meetings with the Dragons – both times their Philly foes sat inside the national rankings.
RMU's lone victory over Drexel came on April 4, 2009, an 11-10 thriller from Joe Walton Stadium. The Colonials used a 4-0 run between the third and fourth quarters to take a 9-4 advantage, and then withstood a 6-2 rally by the Dragons to earn the victory. Five different RMU players scored twice, with Patrick Smith posting a three-point (2g, 1a) afternoon to lead the team.
Scouting the Dragons
Drexel is 0-2 to begin 2020, but both of its losses have come by a single goal. The Dragons, who were picked to finish fourth in the Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) Preseason Coaches' Poll, fell at High Point, 16-15, and at Albany, 14-13.
Senior attack Matthew Varian has a team-high nine points this season on four goals and five assists. Midfielders Ryan Genord and Collin Mailman share the team lead in goals with six apiece, while attackmen Reid Bowering and Aidan Coll each have six points to their names. In net, sophomore Ross Blumenthal has played all 120:00, owning a .474 save percentage and 15.00 goals against average.
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.
Through two games, Smith has recorded 13 points on 10 goals and three assists. The senior leads the nation in goals per game (5.00) and ranks fifth in points per game (6.50). He is the first Colonial since Patrick Smith in 2010 to have double-digit points after two contests – Patrick had 12 (8g, 4a) after wins against Penn State and Manhattan 10 years ago.
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 32-21 (.604) 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 returns home for its 2020 Joe Walton Stadium debut on Saturday, Feb. 29 at 11:00 a.m. when it hosts High Point.
Follow The Colonials: Twitter | Instagram
