MOON TOWNSHIP– On a chilly afternoon matinee matchup, the Robert Morris women’s lacrosse team (2-5) defeated the Queens University Royals (4-4) by a final score of 11-10 at Joe Walton Stadium.

This was the first time these two teams have ever faced off against each other. Heading into the game, the Colonials held a 1-5 record on the year looking for their first win at home, with their last game being a 12-5 loss at the hands of Canisius on the road on Wednesday. Chelsea Coleman entered today with a five-game goal streak, while Julia Koterwas had a three-game goal streak of her own.

On the Royals side, they came in with a 4-3 record aided by a four game win streak. Queens’ Kayleen Favreau had five goals in their previous game, a 16-7 win at home versus Wofford College on Monday, giving her goals in six straight games.

It was a key game on the schedule for the Colonials as the start of conference play approaches.

“I think we definitely needed a little pick-me-up,” said sophomore midfielder Jenna Irwin. “We know our potential, we know how good we are. We needed this win just to show that we have potential and that we can keep going at this speed the whole season.”

“This game was huge for us,” said junior midfielder/defender Haley Mojsej. “We’ve been working really hard in practice and had a few losses. I’m really proud of us even though it got a little rocky towards the end.”

RMU got off to a quick start, with two goals in the first three minutes courtesy of Jordan Anderson and Lilli Hadden, who assisted on Anderson’s goal. By the end of the first quarter, the Colonials led 5-2.

“This might be our first game where we scored first,” said Mojsej, “so I think that got everyone pretty juiced right off the bat.”

Queens would storm back in the second quarter to tie the game at five, with Kayleen Favreau extending her scoring streak to seven

games. However, it was Irwin’s goal with three minutes left in the half that would give RMU the 6-5 lead heading into the break.

The Colonials would extend their lead coming out of halftime, with hat trick goals from Hadden and Irwin bringing the score to 9-5. The two teams would exchange goals through the rest of the third and early in the fourth quarter including Chelsea Coleman extending her scoring streak, with Irwin’s fourth giving RMU an 11-7 lead.

“Everyone else got me these goals,” said Irwin. “It’s not like I went out there and said ‘I’m gonna get myself this many.’ We played as a team and everyone got the goals they needed. Lilli Hadden with a hat trick. We all made things happen for each other, and it shows how well we can work as a team.”

“As a team, we watched Jenna come back from this injury that ended her season really unfortunately during our MAC championship last year and here she is back and better than ever.” said Mojsej. “We’re really excited for her and what she contributes to the team.”

Queens would make things close later in the fourth quarter, with Shannon Kingston’s goal bringing the Colonials’ lead to one with 1:17 remaining. RMU would also have to kill off a man advantage with an illegal substitution call coming with one minute left.

However, a crucial Queens turnover with about twenty seconds remaining sealed the deal and gave the Colonials their second win on the season.

Jamie Keller finished with 11 saves, Kelsey Nelson and Chelsea Coleman led the team with 6 ground balls each, and Jordan Anderson and Colleen Tifft led the team with 3 caused turnovers each.

Irwin and Mojsej shared what they can take from this game in preparation for the next.

“I think we just have to keep playing at this speed,” said Irwin. “After this win, we know that we can compete at the level that we’re at, and we just have to keep pushing. We have to take what we did today and learn from it in order to keep improving for the future.”

RMU will host UC Davis next Sunday at noon in their final matchup before the start of MAC play.