Moon Township, Pa. – The Robert Morris University men's lacrosse team plays its first home game in 39 days on Saturday, April 10 when it hosts Cleveland State for Senior Day. This will be the third meeting between the Colonials and Vikings. RMU enters at 4-5 overall and is coming off a narrow 16-15 win against Jacksonville last Saturday at the Crown Lacrosse Classic, while CSU defeated VMI, 16-4, to move to 2-4 on the year.
GAME #10
Cleveland State Vikings (2-4) at Robert Morris Colonials (4-5)
April 10, 2021 // 1:00 p.m. // Moon Township, Pa. – Joe Walton Stadium (3,000)
Live Video: RMU Athletics on YouTube // Live Stats: RMUColonials.com
History w/ Cleveland State
Overall: 2-0 | Home: 1-0 | Away: 1-0 | Streak: W2
Last Game: April 13, 2019 – Cleveland, Ohio – Robert Morris 13, Cleveland State 8
This will be the third time that Robert Morris and Cleveland State have played, with the Colonials winning both previous meetings. RMU defeated the Vikings in both 2018 and 2019, with the 2020 edition of the series cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Colonials knocked off Cleveland State on the road last time out, winning 13-8 at Krenzler Field. Down 2-1 after 15 minutes, RMU exploded for seven goals in the second quarter to grab an 8-2 halftime advantage. Jake Boudreau (3g), Tyson Gibson (3g), and Corson Kealey (2g, 1a) all recorded three points, and the visitors had eight different goal scorers on the day. Alex Heger made 12 saves to pick up the win.
In their inaugural meeting, the No. 19 Colonials outscored the Vikings, 8-2, in the second half to secure a 14-5 victory on April 14, 2018. Matt Schmidt led the way offensively with four points (3g, 1a) and 10 different RMU players recorded a goal. The defensive trio of Zachary Bryant, Zac Christianson, and Jack Toomb caused two turnovers each, and Heger made 17 saves while allowing just three goals in 54:59.
Scouting the Vikings
Second-year head coach Andy German has led Cleveland State to a 2-4 record in 2021, with wins over Bellarmine (8-1) and VMI (12-4). The Vikings have also dropped games at Mercer (9-10), Bucknell (9-15), No. 8 Notre Dame (5-19), and Marquette (5-10), and like RMU, are only playing two home games this season.
Sophomore attack Brendan Sigurdson is the team's top point scorer with 12 (7g, 5a) in six games, though redshirt senior Chase Baker is right behind him with 11 goals in just four appearances. Fourth-year attack Tristan Hannah has also recorded double-digit points thus far, coming in at 11 on five goals and six assists. Freshman faceoff specialist Evan Moskwa is winning 53.5 percent of his draws and has tallied a team-best 22 groundballs. On defense, redshirt senior defenseman Zach Whitenack ranks third nationally in caused turnovers per game (2.50), and sophomore goalkeeper Kevin Sobey owns a .577 save percentage and 9.76 goals against average in six starts.
Last Time Out
RMU withstood a late Jacksonville flurry of goals, netting the game-winner with 3:36 on the clock to capture the Crown Lacrosse Classic with a 16-15 win. The Colonials were down 4-1 before scoring nine of the next 13 goals, only to see the Dolphins respond with a 4-0 run to regain the lead. RMU answered with a 5-0 blitz between the third and fourth quarters, and netted the winner at 15-15 courtesy of Jimmy Perkins.
Ryan Smith scored a season-high six goals as part of a seven-point afternoon, while Perkins netted six points on three goals and three assists. Nine different Colonials ripped the net, and Jake Boudreau coupled his three points (1g, 2a) with a team-high six groundballs. Owen Down collected three of the team's 10 caused turnovers, while Liam Rosenthal made seven saves to pick up the win in goal.
Senior Salute
This Saturday's contest will mark the final home game in the careers of nine RMU seniors and graduate students, as Michael Autry, Alex Cash, Jimmy Perkins, Austin Popovich, James Scane, Ryan Smith, Will Sturgis, Kyle Vince, and Shaun Vines will be recognized post-game in a Senior Day ceremony. The Class of 2021 is possibly the program's most unique, represented by student-athletes who started their careers as early as 2015 and 2017, as well as Colonials who played their freshman seasons elsewhere before arriving in Moon Township.
Sturgis and Vince are the lone "traditional" seniors who have played all four years in RMU colors, while Cash, Popovich, Scane, and Smith all returned for a fifth season following the abrupt end to the 2020 campaign. Autry (Bellarmine) and Vines (Harford C.C.) started their collegiate careers at different schools, while Perkins – one of two seventh-year student-athletes in NCAA Division I lacrosse in 2021 – began his career at RMU in 2015 and returned this year following a two-year stint at Utah. All but Vines have been a part of at least one NCAA Tournament team with the Colonials, but the Conowingo, Md. defender has started 14 of 15 games since joining the program in 2020.
Ryan Runs Down Records
Graduate attack Ryan Smith is on the cusp of history, as his next point will be the 196th of his career and make him the program's sole leader in that category. Smith matched Trevor Moore (195; 2008-11) with seven points against Jacksonville, and needs eight more goals to break Moore's standard in that category. With two more appearances, the Burlington, Ontario native will also be the school's sole leader in games played, and he also ranks fourth all-time in assists (68) and games started (55).
Smith, a member of the Tewaaraton Men's Watch List and candidate for the Senior CLASS Award, enters the weekend sharing the NCAA Division I lead in goals (33) and ranks seventh in that category on a per-game basis (3.67). He also slots third nationally in total points (49) and 11th on a per-game average (5.44), with both his goals and points per game marks currently serving as RMU single-season records. Smith currently owns or shares each of the single-game scoring records at eight goals (Feb. 15, 2020 at Canisius), six assists (March 2, 2021 vs. Bellarmine), and 11 points (March 2, 2021 vs. Bellarmine).
Jimbo Slice
Graduate attack Jimmy Perkins continues to meet milestones in his final hurrah, with his most recent hat trick against Jacksonville last Saturday giving him over 100 career goals. Perkins, who now has 101 tallies to his name, has scored 59 of those goals while donning RMU colors with the other 42 coming in a two-year span at Utah from 2019-20.
Perkins also became the 17th player in program history to record 100 points with the Colonials earlier in the season, reaching the century mark on March 20 at No. 9 Virginia. The Senior CLASS Award candidate has 115 points (59g, 56a) with RMU and is 13 shy of breaking into the top 10 in that category. He also ranks sixth all-time in assists, needing five more helpers to move into the top five.
A New Home (in 2022)
On February 5, it was announced that RMU would join the newly-formed ASUN Conference for men's lacrosse, starting in the 2022 season. The ASUN first built a men's lacrosse conference in the fall of 2012, and began play in 2014 with Richmond earning the league's automatic NCAA Tournament bid. The Colonials will join a group of six that includes Air Force, Bellarmine, Cleveland State, Detroit Mercy, and Utah.
Road Warriors
There's no truth to the rumor that RMU will be changing its acronym to RWU, but Road Warrior University would be an accurate way to describe the Colonials' program in recent seasons. As an independent in 2021, RMU is slated to play nine true road contests and 10 of its 12 games away from Joe Walton Stadium.
This isn't a new concept to the Colonials. In last year's abbreviated campaign, RMU played five of its six contests away from Moon Township with four of them being true road games. In their 2018 and 2019 NCAA Tournament seasons, the Colonials played a combined 21 road games - plus two neutral-site bouts - compared to just 12 home contests.
Fly High Jack
In January, RMU announced that it will retire the jersey number 43 in honor of the late Jack Toomb. The Colonials also will wear helmet straps with 'Toomb 43' on them to honor their former teammate, and they plan on holding a formal jersey retirement ceremony sometime in 2021.
Toomb passed away in March 2020 at the age of 23. He played at RMU from 2016 to 2019, and was a cornerstone of the program's 2018 and 2019 NEC Tournament championship sides as a long-stick midfielder and defender. A three-time All-NEC Second Team selection, Toomb ranks third in program history in games played (65), fourth in groundballs (210), and fifth in groundballs per game (3.23) and caused turnovers (64).
From Bobby Mo to Pro
RMU has made its name known in the professional ranks of indoor and outdoor lacrosse, and accomplished an impressive feat last year. In the 2020 season, the Colonials had the highest representation of any college or university in the National Lacrosse League (NLL) with 11 former players suiting up for 10 different teams.
After the selections of Ryan Smith and Brad McCulley in the 2020 NLL Entry Draft, RMU became the only school to boast multiple first-round picks in the 2019 and 2020 drafts. The Colonials have 12 players active in the NLL as of the 2021 season with Kevin Brownell (Buffalo Bandits), Kyle Buchanan (Buffalo Bandits), Tyler Digby (Colorado Mammoth), Tyson Gibson (New York Riptide), JonPatrik Kealey (Buffalo Bandits), Luc Magnan (Halifax Thunderbirds), Kiel Matisz (Philadelphia Wings), Brad McCulley (Buffalo Bandits), James Rahe (Vancouver Warriors), Justin Robinson (Saskatchewan Rush), Jacob Ruest (New England Black Wolves), and Mitch Wilde (Calgary Roughnecks).
Next Up
RMU hits the road again for a Friday Night Lights matchup when it faces Bucknell at 7:00 p.m. on April 16. This contest will mark the third meeting between the Colonials and Bison, and their first since 2012. The game was originally to be played on Saturday, Feb. 20 before it was postponed due to campus-wide restrictions on Bucknell's campus.
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