Moon Township, Pa. – After erasing a six-goal deficit, the Colonials rallied to capture a 12-11 victory over Central Michigan in overtime on Saturday afternoon at Joe Walton Stadium while celebrating Senior Day.

With the win, the Robert Morris women's lacrosse team improves to 9-8 overall with a 7-1 mark in conference play. The victory also gives the Colonials a share of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) regular season title. Meanwhile, the Chippewas falls to 8-8 this season, with a 6-2 mark in league action.

GOLDEN GOAL
After a draw control win by senior Colleen Tifft, the Colonials set up Chelsea Coleman in an iso situation. As Coleman looked to set up her defender, she found a cutting Tifft who bounced her shot to the top left of the net to give RMU a share of the MAC regular season championship.

QUOTABLE
"Our offensive coach, coach Shea drew that up as we know Chelsea (Coleman) is one of the best one vs one drivers so we knew we had to set her up in an iso situation," Tifft said. "We knew our stack was working all game for us and it just happened to be my cut this time."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
It was all Central Michigan in the opening frame as the Chippewas netted four consecutive goals to take an early 4-0 lead. It was the first time this season that RMU has been held scoreless in the opening quarter. In the second quarter, senior Julia Koterwas got the Colonials on the board at the 11:28 mark, when she beat goalkeeper Alexa Martel to the back of the net. After another Central Michigan score, sophomore Chelsea Coleman executed a free position opportunity to trim the deficit. The Chippewas would score three straight goals to grab its largest lead of the afternoon, 8-2 with 3:38 remaining in the half. Tifft would trim the advantage after netting her first score of the game as the Colonials trailed 8-3 at the break.

HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED
Robert Morris was a completely different squad in the second half, outscoring the Chippewas 9-3. The Colonials opened the third quarter with three consecutive scores, two of them coming from Koterwas. At the 10:48 mark, graduate student Kelsey Nelson found a cutting Koterwas, who found the back of the net. Less than a minute later, Koterwas completed the hat trick with her third score of the afternoon. After a CMU timeout, Coleman beat Martel once again as RMU trimmed the lead, 8-6. The Chippewas found the back of the net at the 3:22 mark before sophomore Jenna Irwin completed her free position opportunity as the Colonials tailed 9-7 heading to the final frame
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The two squads traded the first four goals of the fourth quarter before Tifft found the back of the net at the 5:40 mark to trim the deficit to one. After RMU caused a turnover, junior Lilli Hadden found a cutting Koterwas who knotted the score 11-11 with 4:06 remaining in regulation.

QUOTABLE
"I told them it was going to be an interesting ending," head coach Katrina Silva said. "That struggle makes us stronger and we struggled in the early parts of the year which people probably counted us out at that time. But that's the best part about this group, they love to fight and we battled to the very end."   

SENIOR SIZZLING
A pair of seniors enjoyed productive days as Julia Koterwas tied her career-high in points and goals. She paced the Colonials with six points while carding four scores and two assists on the afternoon. Koterwas fired six shots, all coming on goal while collecting a ground ball. It's her second hat trick of the season and the sixth time this year she has recorded two or more assists. Colleen Tifft posted three points during the win, all coming from goals. She fired seven shots on net while grabbing two draw controls and a ground ball. It's her seventh hat trick of the season and her first game-winning goal of the year.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Chelsea Coleman tied for second on the team with three points after carding two scores and one assist. She tied for the team lead with five draw controls while causing two turnovers and collecting two ground balls. Jenna Irwin posted a pair of scores while Lilli Hadden found the back of the net once and registered an assist. Kelsey Nelson recorded an assist while Jordan Anderson collected five draw controls in the win.

Graduate student goalkeeper Jamie Keller collected nine saves on 25 shots faced while posting a .529 saves percentage.

MAC TOURNAMENT
Robert Morris has clinched the No. 1 spot and will be the host of the MAC Tournament. The Colonials will face the No. 4 seed Youngstown State on Thursday afternoon. Kent State was tabbed the No. 2 spot and will take on the No. 3 seed Central Michigan.

UP NEXT
The Colonials will take on the No. 4 seed Youngstown State on Thursday, May 4, at Joe Walton Stadium, with the opening draw schedule for 1:00 p.m.

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