Robert Morris Men’s Lacrosse Falls to Air Force in NCAA Tournament

The Robert Morris men’s lacrosse team faced a familiar opponent in Wednesday’s NCAA Tournament play-in game as the Colonials fell to Air Force by the score of 14-9 behind the Falcons’ fierce defense.

While the Falcons, like many teams this season, could not contain NEC Offensive Player of the Year David Burr, who scored five goals, they were successful in shutting down fellow NEC First-Teamer Calum Brennan, who scored just once.

Robert Morris and Air Force became annual foes when the Colonials were a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference from 2020-2024. The Colonials and the Falcons played a total of 10 times prior to Wednesday’s NCAA Tournament matchup with each team winning five a piece.

One of the last meetings between the two programs prior to this season was in the ASUN Tournament semifinals back in 2022. The Colonials walked away winners of that showdown and eventually went on to win the conference title.

Final pic.twitter.com/cdfgfavUOx

— RMU Men’s Lacrosse (@RMUMLacrosse) May 7, 2025

Robert Morris kicked the scoring off less than a minute into the first quarter. After Bo Columbus picked up a ground ball off of the face-off, Luke Prezioso found David Burr for the game’s first goal.

Later in the period, Air Force capitalized off of one of the Colonials’ 13 first-half turnovers as Caelan Driggs tied the game up with his 54th goal of the season. The Falcons eventually jumped out to a 3-1 lead after Wes Peene scored and Driggs followed that up with his second of the opening quarter.

The Colonials managed to briefly stop the run as Burr rifled in his second of the game to cut the deficit to just one with just over six minutes to go in the quarter. That was the closest that the Colonials would be for the rest of the first half as by the end of the period, the Falcons led 5-2.

The Falcons started the second quarter just as the finished the first which was by scoring as their lead grew to 7-2 under five minutes into the second period. That is when Colonials’ goaltender Nate Fechter started to stand on his head and helped the Colonials crawl back into the game.

After five consecutive saves from Fechter, the Colonials scored two unanswered goals before the end of the half to cut the deficit to three as the Falcons led 7-4 at the half. The first of the two second-quarter goals came after killing a penalty.

After Fechter made a save in the man-down situation, the Colonials cleared the midway point of the field before waiting to equalize the playing field. Once they got their man back, Graeme MacLennan found Burr for his third goal of the game.

The second goal came less than two minutes later as Nolan Barker made sure that the Colonials capitalized on their own man-up situation.

The Colonials kept the comeback going as the second half started. After the Falcons won the initial face-off, Fechter made two more saves before the Colonials went on the offensive. With the ball around the crease, the Colonials worked their passes up until Joel McCormick made something out of nothing and fired a goal past the Falcons’ goaltender. McCormick’s goal made the score 7-5 in favor of Air Force.

Just as the Colonials were taking full control of the momentum, the Falcons forced another turnover off of the face-off which turned into the first Falcon’s goal since the 11:30 mark of the second period. Shortly after, Peene scored his second goal of the game which pushed their lead back out to four as the score became 9-5.

The Colonials did not go away even after the momentum swung back to the Falcons. A few minutes after allowing the back-to-back goals, the Colonials scored a goal on a hard-fought offensive possession which ended with Calum Brennan scoring his first goal of the game just as he was lit up by a defender.

The hit that Brennan took as he scored warranted a penalty on the Falcons which gave the Colonials a chance to double up on goals on the man-up advantage. Just as the man advantage was about to expire, the Colonials committed another turnover which turned into Peene’s third goal of the game just seconds later.

Peene’s goal pushed the score out to 10-6 in favor of the Falcons. The Colonials made the score 10-7 just moments later on Burr’s fourth goal of the afternoon which is where the score stayed as the team’s entered the final quarter of regulation.

The Colonials made it a two-goal game early in the fourth quarter, the closest the game was since the score was 7-5, when MacLennan hit his defender with a slick move to have a free rush to the goal where he fired it past the goaltender to make the score 10-8.

The Falcons managed to re-extend their lead a few minutes later on Drigg’s fifth goal of the day. The goal came on the heels of the Colonials killing a man-up opportunity from the Falcons but before the Colonials’ player could get back onto the field to neutralize the threat, Driggs fired it past Fechter.

The Falcons eventually scored again to make the score 12-8 with 9:28 left in the fourth quarter which gave them complete control of the momentum and the game. The Falcons scored again less than two minutes later and eventually went on to close out the victory over the Colonials at Joe Walton Stadium.

With the loss, Robert Morris’ season comes to an end but after one of the best year’s in program history, playing in tournament games should continue to be the “norm” in Moon Township.