FAIRFIELD, Conn. – The Sacred Heart men's lacrosse team opened Northeast Conference play Saturday with a 12-9 loss to the Robert Morris Colonials at Campus Field.

Seniors Brian Masi and Ryan O'Donoghue both reached career milestones Saturday. With his hat trick, Masi reached 100 career points. Sixty-seven of his 100 career points are goals. O'Donoghue eclipsed 100 career caused turnovers with his three Saturday, giving him 101 for his career. Bryce Jurk and Kevin Cop both had three points on two goals and an assist.

After an early Robert Morris (5-3, 1-0 NEC) goal, SHU got two goals in 0:12 as Max Tuttle and Cop gave the Pioneers a 2-1 lead with 11:07 remaining in the opening quarter.  The two teams traded goals for the remainder of the quarter, with the Pioneers taking a 4-3 lead at the 2:10 mark on Masi's first goal of the game. Colonials goalie Alex Heger stymied SHU in the second quarter, making eight saves while allowing just one goal. That allowed RMU to rattle off four unanswered goals with Zachary Bryant's goal at the 9:09 mark putting the Colonials ahead 7-4. Robert Morris took an 8-5 lead at halftime after Adrian Torok-Orban's goal with 5:14 to play in the second. 

Sacred Heart (4-3, 0-1 NEC) got an early goal from Joe Saggese in the third quarter to keep the deficit at three, 9-6. The Colonials took their largest lead of the game with 5:35 to play in the quarter on a Tyson Gibson goal that made the score 11-6. The Pioneers got back within three with 12:48 to go in the fourth, when Cop and Masi scored back-to-back goals to put the score at 11-8. The Pioneers outshot the Colonials 10-4 in the fourth quarter but only mustered one more goal as RMU won 12-9. 

SHU outshot RMU 52-26, including a 25-10 margin in the second half. The Pioneers also held a 36-26 advantage in groundballs and won 16 of 24 faceoffs. Ryan Smith led the Colonials with three goals. Gibson and Carter Yepsen both had four points. Yepsen had two goals and two assists as Gibson added a goal and three assists. Heger made 17 saves for RMU.

The Pioneers are back in action at Campus Field on Saturday, March 25 for a 1 p.m. game against Hobart. Next Saturday's game is SHU Men's Lacrosse's annual "Faceoff for a Cause" game to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project.