Box Score MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. – Down five late in the third quarter, the Jacksonville University men's lacrosse team roared back into the game with four goals from four different players, cutting the Robert Morris lead to 10-9 with more than eight minutes to play. That would end up being as close as Jacksonville (1-6) would get though, giving up three goals late in the game and falling on the road to the Colonials (3-4) by a score of 13-9.
The contest started brightly for Jacksonville, who came back to take a 2-1 lead midway through the first quarter after going down in a goal within the first two minutes. The equalizer came from David Goldman, who used a feed from Ari Waffle to notch his fourth goal of the campaign. Just over a minute later, Rob Moore scored his fifth of the season to put JU on top.
The lead lasted only 58 seconds however. James Rahe scored the first goal of the game for Robert Morris and he added his second to tie the proceedings up at 2-2, part of a four-goal afternoon for him. A man-up goal from Luke Laszkiewicz before the quarter ended gave the Colonials a 3-2 lead after the first quarter.
A goal from Taylor Graves early on in the second quarter made it 4-2, but Tom Moore scored an unassisted goal at the 9:10 mark of the second quarter to make it 4-3. Sam Rosengarden won the face-off after the Moore goal, but the Dolphins were denied a second straight goal, and the Colonials took advantage. Moving upfield, Jacob Ruest tallied a goal to give RMU a 5-3 lead. Just seven seconds later, it was 6-3 as the Colonials won the face-off and rapidly deposited it in the back of the JU net again. Two more goals before halftime gave Robert Morris an 8-3 edge at the break.
Things remained static through much of the third quarter, as two Jacksonville goals from Chase McIntyre and Tom Moore were answered on the other end. JU made its push beginning late in the third. Rob Moore scored his second of the day in a man-up situation off Duncan Clancy's team-leading 10th assist of the season to make it 10-6. In the fourth quarter, Dakota Rohlin, Quint Miller and Tom Moore scored within five minutes of each other to slice the Colonial advantage down to 10-9 with 8:24 to go.
After using a timeout, Robert Morris once again turned to Rahe to deliver some offense. His final goal put the Colonials ahead, 11-9, with 7:17 remaining. The last gasp came on the next possession. The Dolphins controlled the face-off and drew a pair of penalties on RMU, giving them an excellent chance to draw closer, if not level. Two shots went wide though, and a third was saved by Robert Morris goalkeeper Brian Bohn. On the other end, a RMU goal put the Colonials up by three and they cruised to the finish line from there.
Tom Moore once again led the Jacksonville offense on the afternoon, recording three goals and an assist. Rob Moore scored twice and Waffle dished out three assists on the day. Rosengarden took each face-off and won 14 of the 26 on the day. On the defensive side, Mike McCredie caused a pair of turnovers and Pete DeLuca made 10 saves in the cage.
Jacksonville plays its final non-conference game of the season next weekend, traveling to Ohio State for a 2:30 p.m. start in Columbus on March 29.
