GAME 17
RMU (8-8 / 6-1 #MAC) vs Central Michigan (8-7 / 6-1 #MAC)
Saturday, April 29 | 12:00 p.m.
Joe Walton Stadium (3,000) | Moon Township, Pa.
 
TV: ESPN+
Gero Von Dehn (pxp), Nate Breisinger (Color)
Twitter: @RMUWLacrosse
Instagram: rmuwlacrosse

Opening Draw

• The Robert Morris women's lacrosse team concludes the regular season by celebrating Senior Day when it hosts Central Michigan on Saturday, April 29 at Joe Walton Stadium.
• The Colonials are coming off a commanding victory in their final road contest of the season, securing a 17-5 victory at Akron on Wednesday (4/26).
• A pair of Colonials enjoyed career days against the Zips as Colleen Tifft and Chelsea Coleman each posted a career high six points in the victory.
• Tifft tied her career best with four scores while carding a season high two assists on Wednesday. She fired seven shots, all coming on goal and collected a ground ball. It's the third time this season the senior midfielder has netted four goals in a game while tallying her sixth hat trick of the year.
• Coleman recorded a career high five goals while collecting an assist. She fired five shots with all five finding the back of the net as she also collected four ground balls and caused a turnover. The sophomore midfielder leads the team with 34 goals on the season while posting her sixth hat trick of the campaign.
• Robert Morris gave Akron problems all evening as they surrendered their least amount of goals all season. The Colonials held the Zips to just 24 total shots while 12 of them came on goal.
• Graduate goalkeeper Jamie Keller was stout between the pipes, collecting seven saves and registering her second best save percentage of the year (.583). She corralled three saves in both the second and third quarter while facing 14 total shots in that span. As a team, RMU caused five turnovers from five different players while collecting 23 ground balls.
• Graduate student Kelsey Nelson paced the team with five ground balls while causing a turnover and netting a score. Koterwas carded three ground balls, with a caused turnover and posted three points on the evening. She found the back of the net twice while tallying an assist as well.
• Lilli Hadden finished the contest with three points, posting two scores and one assist. She collected a ground ball while placing three shots on net.
• Jordan Anderson was excellent in the circle for RMU, tying her season-high with 11 draw controls while tallying two assists. It's the third time this season she has recorded double-digit draws and the second time posting 11.
• Jenna Irwin, Emilie Kim, and Maggie Boyle all netted a goal while Irwin and Kim each placed three shots on net.

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The All-Time Series (Central Michigan) – It'll be the eighth all-time meeting between the Chippewas and Colonials come Saturday afternoon. RMU holds a 5-2 record in the series but Central Michigan has been victorious the last two meetings. The two squads met in the MAC Championship game a season ago with the Chippewas capturing a 20-10 win. A trio of Colonials netted a pair of scores as Chelsea Coleman paced the team with three total points. She carded two goals and assist while Colleen Tifft and Kelsey Nelson each netted a pair of scores. Mackenzie Bell, Bailey Christianson, Lilli Hadden, and Jerica Obee all found the back of the net for RMU. Coleman and Jordan Anderson paced the Colonials with six draw controls while Nelson collected five draws and two ground balls.

Scouting The Chippewas – Central Michigan comes to Moon Township winning six of their last seven games while holding an 8-7 overall record and a 6-1 mark in conference action. The Chippewas currently sit in a three-way tie with the Colonials and Kent State at the top of the MAC. Central Michigan is coming off a 19-4 victory over Eastern Michigan on Wednesday (4/26). The Chips were led by Maggie Diebold who netted five goals. Diebold, the Chippewas leading goal scorer, has now scored 46 goals in 2023. Alongside Diebold, Kelly Hoyt and Skye Deprado recorded hat tricks on the evening. Amanda Hilderbrandt, Sadie Hinkle and Reagan Martinsen each added two goals apiece, and Kendall Hoyt, along with Makenna Huhn got in on the scoring with one each.

Diebold paces the Chippewas and sits third in the conference with 46 scores while producing 54 total points on the year. Over the last five games, she has totaled 20 goals while posting five consecutive hat tricks. Hoyt sits second on the squad with 44 total points, with 38 goals which sits fourth in the MAC. She also paces the team with 61 draw controls while collecting 17 ground balls. Audrey Whiteside has totaled 42 points this season with 25 scores and a tram leading 17 assists. Whiteside has collected 33 draw controls and 13 ground balls for the Chippewas. Between the pipes, Alexa Martel has been one of the top goalkeepers in the league. She ranks first in the conference in goals-against average at 11.18 while sitting second with a .494 saves percentage. Martel has recorded double-digit saves eight times this season while posting a season-high 18 against Duquesne earlier this season.

As a team, Central Michigan leads the Mid-American Conference in multiple statistical categories. The rank first in assists per game (5.86), draw controls per game (14.86), points per game (19.00), scoring offense (13.14, shots per contest (29.64), shots on goal per game (22.00), and turnovers per match (14.29).

Moving Up The Record Book – With her 11 draw control wins at Akron, Jordan Anderson moves into second place all-time in career draw controls. She has 278 career draws while collecting 76 on the season. Anderson has collected double-digit draws 11 times in her career and has reached that mark three times this campaign. Earlier this season, Colleen Tifft became the 17th player in program history to surpass 100 career points and continues to climb the books. Her 118 points currently ranks her 14th all-time while her 175 career shots on goals sits sixth. Tifft has 85 career goals entering Saturday which sits 11th in the RMU record book.

Senior Spotlight – Saturday's match against the Chippewas will wrap up the 2023 regular season as the Colonials will honor five seniors prior to the contest. RMU will honor Jordan Anderson, Kathleen Kelly, Julia Koterwas, Jerica Obee, and Colleen Tifft.

The Inside Look – There's a lot of implications on the line heading into Saturday afternoon on who will host the conference tournament. Currently three teams sit in a three-way tie for first place in the MAC, which are Robert Morris, Central Michigan, and Kent State. The team tiebreaker scenario looks like this: 1. Total combined head-to-head record against all tied teams, 2. Winning percentage vs. ranked conference teams (top to bottom, descending order), 3. Total goal differential (all conference games) among tied teams with a maximum of seven goals per game, 4. Fewest goals among tied teams in head-to-head matchups, 5. Most recently released RPI rankings as of the conclusion of the regular season.

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