HAMILTON – Robert Morris scored the final five goals of the first half and the first three of the second half to flip the script on Colgate in a 17-14 decision here Sunday afternoon.
 
RMU was playing its third game of the young season, including a narrow road loss against No. 1-ranked Duke, while this was the 2021 opener for Colgate.
 
The Raiders (0-1) built leads of 4-2, 6-3 and 7-4 as first-years Colin Ruppenstein and Jacob Sposita scored their first collegiate goals. Mike Hawkins, Brian Minicus and James Caddigan found the netting in a 3-0 Raiders run that handed Colgate some early momentum.
 
But Robert Morris (1-2) found its footing late in the first half when big Ryan Smith scored a natural hat trick – all three goals unassisted – to spark the late five-goal Colonials flurry. RMU led 9-7 at intermission.
 
The visitors kept the pressure on over the opening seven minutes of the second half, scoring three more times to push the lead to 12-7. Michael Minicus countered with his first collegiate goal with 5:25 left in the third to halt the run, and Adam Salvaggio scored the first of his career late in the quarter to pull the Raiders within 13-9.

 

But Smith scored his fourth and fifth of the game over the first five minutes of the fourth to make it 15-10 RMU. Mike Hawkins was brilliant down the stretch keeping the Raiders close, but it wasn't enough.
 
Hawkins led Colgate with four goals, one shy of his career high. His three assists for seven points matched personal bests in both categories.
 
Salvaggio scored a second goal early in the fourth, this one unassisted, to post a two-goal game to go with a pair of assists. Caddigan and Brendan Jordan also scored two goals apiece, while Brian Minicus had a goal and four assists before missing the last 23 minutes of game action with an injury.
 
Bottom Line
• Robert Morris 17, Colgate 14


 
From the Source
• Colgate head coach Matt Karweck: (On the result) "That was the first time we've played against a different opponent in 11 months, and I was really proud of the effort that the guys showed out there to execute a game plan that we asked them to execute. We had a bunch of young guys step up when a few of our guys were dinged up, and a bunch of them scored their first goal, which was awesome. We had four guys score their first goal today, which is pretty neat. Three of them are freshmen.
 
"We broke down in some of the areas I expected us to break down. We couldn't adjust quickly enough at the defensive end, and that's on me. We can improve there and another area we can improve is battling for ground balls a little stronger at the faceoff-X. We've got to be a little bit tougher in those areas – ground balls that squirted out and we weren't balanced enough to absorb a check and then get the ground ball.
 
"We talk about grit, growth and gratitude all the time, and our guys scored an unbelievable amount of grit to get to this point, there's no doubt about it. They have been working their tails off on the field, and I really appreciate the effort there. Another value we share is growth, and there's nothing more important than getting better. This is the first time we've played. Typically, we've scrimmaged two times by now and had a fall-ball game as well. For us to put up 14 goals against a team playing its third game against two great opponents, that's a great effort.
 
"For the first time out in 11 months, that's a good showing for us. We have a lot to build on."


 
Stats of the Game
• Sunday marked Colgate's first game action – regular season or exhibition – in 351 days. The 2020 season ended March 7 and the worldwide Covid-19 pandemic prevented fall practice games from taking place.
• Sophomore Brian Wilmans saw his first game action at the faceoff-X and finished with 16 wins out of 36 draws. He grabbed six ground balls.
• Senior Owen Callahan posted career highs with four ground balls, a caused turnover and his first collegiate assist.
• Caddigan, Brian Minicus and Michael Lia also caused turnovers for the Raiders.
 
Up Next
• Colgate is at Albany next Saturday in the Great Danes season opener.
• Faceoff is noon from Albany, with AE.TV carrying the livestream.