MOON TOWNSHIP– Robert Morris men’s lacrosse (11-5,6-1 NEC) season ends at home in the opening round of NCAA Tournament to Air Force 14-9. It is the Colonials first loss at home all season.
In the first quarter, the Falcons got off to a hot start as they were up 3-1 early. Despite the Colonials getting on the board first, Robert Morris could not get anything going on the offensive side. They had 17 shots on goal to Air Force’s 23.
Turnovers were a killer for Robert Morris in the first as they had eight in the first quarter. The Falcons kept their momentum going into the second quarter as they scored the first two goals to extend their lead to 7-2.
The Colonials coughed the ball up 23 times, including eight in the first quarter.
The Colonial offense has had trouble getting started up as the Air Force defense had the Colonials searching for answers. David Burr was Mr. Reliable as he netted three goals in the first half.
The Robert Morris offense started to gain traction at the end of the first half as they got two late goals to get within three goals of the Air Force Falcons. Robert Morris is hanging on as they enter half-time only down three.
The third quarter opened up pretty even as both teams had great looks at the net. Robert Morris opened up the scoring in the third quarter from Joel McCormick but the Falcons had a quick response.
After scoring two goals in quick succession Robert Morris found themselves in another four goal hole as the score was 9-5 in favor of Air Force. Both teams were trading goals in the third quarter. Robert Morris was fighting to stay in the game as the fourth quarter rolled around.
Robert Morris continued to be resilient as they scored right off the bat in the fourth quarter to cut the deficit to two. Robert Morris just couldn’t get too close as Air Force would score right after the Colonials would.
At one point the Colonials thought they had the ball in the back of the net, but the Falcons picked up the ball and fired it from beyond midfield with a napping Nate Fechter nowhere to be found as he assumed his team had scored. This was a pendulum swing of momentum for the Falcons and they never looked back.
Air Force would go on to score multiple goals to bolster their lead late in the game. The Air Force went up by five with under eight minutes to go.
“I’m just proud of the guys,” Colonials head coach Craig MacDonald said. ”There were a lot of ups and downs and we talked about it being a process a lot. This year is a great example of that.”
This season was an impressive season back in the NEC for Robert Morris as they won a share of the conference title and making the NCAA Tournament for the second time in four years.
