Moon, PA- The Colonials run through the NACE Rocket League Playoffs carried them into a critical 3rd round matchup against Northwood University. The Colonials had been the favorite in the previous two playoff matchups (3 seed v 14 seed) (3 seed v 6 seed). However, this time around they were going up against a team seeded better than they were. The 3 seeded Colonials took on the 2 seeded Northwood Timberwolves. Despite the odds, captain
Ryan Conti said before the match: "We're not gonna lose here". RMU carried out on the field what Conti had said before the match, winning the best of 5 series 3-1.
Game 1: Northwood wins 2-1
It would be an understatement to say the Colonials got off to a bad start. Off the opening faceoff, Northwood ricocheted a shot off the far wall toward the goal. A miscommunication from RMU meant no one was there to clear the shot. Northwood took the 1-0 lead only 2 seconds into the game. But instead of crumbling RMU rebounded. They outplayed Northwood much of the first half, and finally was rewarded just after the midway point of the game.
Reprivation (
Michael Campbell) cleared a shot from his own end down the center of the field. Northwood misplayed the rolling ball, and it found itself in the lower corner of the net to tie the game at 1. Northwood got another goal within second of the following faceoff to make it 2-1, which the game stayed at for the remaining time. The Colonials spent the majority of time in the offensive zone, just couldn't bury the shots.
Game 2: RMU wins 2-0
RMU got a much better start to game 2. Before the first 40 seconds had passed, RMU had taken the 1-0 lead. Reprivation send forward a high arcing pass from backfield that was floating down toward the Northwood goal. Slurpe (
Ryan Conti) and a Northwood both went for the 50/50 ball, but a beautiful aerial touch from Slurpe tucked the shot home. From their it was playing solid defense throughout and limiting offensive chances.
The second goal Robert Morris scored was courtesy of Reprivation. After a well timed clear, he had a breakaway on the left side of the pitch. He cut in at a sharp angle against the trailing Timberwolves defender. The initial shot was saved, but the rebound came right back to him and he buried the rebound chance to double the RMU lead. That lead would stand as the final result.
Game 3: RMU wins 4-0
Reprivation was having himself a night already, scoring in each of the previous two game. He opened the scoring in the one with banking a shot off the right post and in to give RMU the lead. The majority of the match was spent at this 1-0 score, until Slurpe added another goal with a minute and a half remaining to make it 2-0.
The announcer for the match made the astute observation of how RMU was outplaying Northwood in games 2 and 3. He highlighted that Northwood burned through the majority of their boost stopping RMU's offensive chances, which left very little remaining for offensive attacks of their own. Captain_IceFire (
Chris Willard) added his first of the night and Reprivation added another before games end in the 4-0 victory.
Game 4: RMU wins 2-1
With an opportunity to close out the series, RMU did not waste the clinching game. After a joint save off a shot by Captain_IceFire and Reprivation, Reprivation chased down the loose ball and tapped home an aerial goal just in front of the net to give the Colonials an early lead for the 3rd straight game. From there, the tension was on as each team traded quality chances down the stretch.
It seemed that RMU was going to be able to hold on to that 1-0 lead for the whole game, but the Timberwolves made it a game with 27 seconds to go. This could have been the momentum Northwood needed to win the game and force a Game 5, but it was not meant to be for them. 27 seconds was too much time to leave a hungry RMU team who wanted nothing more than to end the series in this game.
With 7 seconds left in the match, Northwood attempted to clear the ball into their own corner. Slurpe was there for RMU, who send a pass backward toward the center of the field. Captain_IceFire was there with a clean shooting angle and rocketed a shot on goal. He tucked in brilliantly toward the near post in a spot where the Timberwolves goalie couldn't make a play on it. Despite it being only his second goal of the series, the clutch timing of the goal secured the game and series for RMU.
RMU played next on Thursday night at 8pm against Bracket C's #1 seed, UT Dallas. The game can be viewed on the Colonials's Esports stream at www.twitch.tv/rmucolonials
Alexander Gagnon '21
Club Sport Information Director
