PITTSBURGH, Pa. The Robert Morris University women's lacrosse team got back in the win column Wednesday afternoon at Joe Walton Stadium, earning a victory over the visiting Butler Bulldogs 15-8. The win moves them to 5-2 on the year and a perfect 4-0 at home this season.
The twin sisters of Mackenzie Gandy and Melanie Gandy were the main drivers for Colonials in attack, combining for nine goals and 14 points on the afternoon. RMU also got multi-goal efforts from Emilie Kim and Kelsey Nelson, while keeper Katelyn Miller made six saves en route to earning her fifth victory of the season.
The offensive outburst from Mackenzie Gandy put her within striking distance of the RMU record books, as the senior now sits three points off from tying and four away from surpassing the all-time Robert Morris career points record of 179 set by Ashley Levering '09.
"Overall, we did a lot of the things we wanted to do," head coach Katrina Silva said. "We worked on some new defenses, got a lot of players in, ran some different systems. It's pre-season lacrosse, we're trying to figure out what works for conference play and that's what our focus was."
It looked like RMU was going to run away with another game Wednesday at the Joe, getting off to a searing start after Emilie Kim scored twice within the span of a minute to put RMU ahead 2-0 just 58 seconds into the game.
A goal from Butler's Gabryelle Bodine cut it down to a one goal lead two minutes later, however a response from Flynn and a pair of quick scores from Mackenzie Gandy including a man-up, free-position goal set Robert Morris up with a 5-1 lead.
And while early leads and rapid fire scoring have preceded a number of RMU routs this season, Wednesday's showdown against the Bulldogs proved anything but a cakewalk for the Colonials.
A lack of sharpness and focus in execution played a role in Butler getting back in the game despite a 12-8 advantage in shots on goal in the opening half for RMU. A Thalia Zolis foul led to Butler's second goal of the game minutes after RMU pushed it to 5-1, while successive free-position attempts from the Bulldogs made it a 5-3 game within the span of three minutes.
A Kelley Colegrove yellow set up another free-position shot for Butler, who quickly made it a one-goal game with under three minutes to play in the first half.
Though Colleen Tifft was finally able to stop the bleeding and re-establish a two-goal lead before the half expired, the Colonials were thankful to get to halftime still clinging to a lead.
"In the second half, we saw the game plan through, that was the difference," coach Silva said. "In the first, we had a lot of effort, a lot of shots, but not a lot of execution. In the second, we started to see that game plan all the way through."
A 5-0 run to start the second half of play saw RMU return to their earlier form, spurred on by the Gandy sisters who combined for four goals in the first 14 minutes of the final half of play.
In particular, Melanie Gandy's pair of tallies within 40 seconds of one-another, including a man-down goal following a Mackenzie yellow-card, sparked the team as RMU started to re-establish the flowing transition game that has become such a hallmark of their success this season.
"After the first 15 minutes we pulled ahead, and then we really played down to their level," Melanie Gandy said. "What we need to focus on in the future, and what we did in the second, is sticking to our game plan and putting goals in the back of net."
Butler would manage just three goals and seven shots on goal in the second half. Some big stops by Miller was well as a dominant 12-5 advantage in caused turnovers spurred the Colonials to their shutdown performance over the game's final 30 minutes, helping them pull away from the Bulldogs and come away with a 15-8 win.
"Our midfielders in particular played really well, and we did a lot of good things that don't show up on the stat sheet after the game," Silva said. "We have a lot of good players who can step up and contribute in different way."
