![]() On a cold snowy January day, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, the Robert Morris University Colonials football team announced that quarterback Caleb Lewis will be transferring from Louisiana State University to Robert Morris University. Whenever you transfer to a new school and a new city, things can be scary. Fortunately for Caleb Lewis, there was a familiar face in the locker room who helped him with that transition and that is Colonials head coach, Coach Bernard Clark. Coach Clark and Lewis go way back to Lewis’ high school career. “Me and Coach Clark have a really good relationship that goes back to high school”, Said Lewis. “He did my home visit back in my senior year, he’s known me since my junior year of high school, he’s from a really close area that I went to high school from so I’ve known him for a while”. Lewis brings leadership to the team and has lots of goals and knows how to achieve them. “I’m a very intellectual quarterback”, Lewis said. “I make very good decisions and I take care of the ball. I also pride myself on being a leader of creating a culture of very, very high level goals and the work ethic to prepare to reach those goals.And a passion for the game”. Lewis and the Colonials aren’t shy about what they want to achieve and they want to win the NEC and get to playoffs like any sports team but there are some things Coach Clark stresses to his players. “We’re not shy about it. We want to win the NEC and make playoffs”, Said Lewis. “That’s the reason you play the game, to make playoffs and games. That’s one thing Coach Clark harps on is that you have to take it one day at a time, one play at a time and one game at a time and think about it in one week chunks. Thinking about practice and being here now in the moment and taking care of what you can take care of and the results will follow”. The transition from LSU to RMU has been an interesting one for Lewis. There are a few things he’s still adjusting to and the weather is number one. And football is football no matter the weather or the town you play in. “It’s very cold, not going to lie and trying to play in that kinda took me a little longer than I thought”, He said jokingly. “I’m not used to the snow and I don’t think I ever will be, being from Florida and then living in Louisiana. Football is still football. The field is still 120 by 53 ⅓ and you still got 11 on 11 so you can try to create differences but you still have your teammates, you still have your band of brothers that you go to war with. It doesn’t change all that much”. Another thing Lewis had to get used to are the minor changes in passing. “Like I’ve said before, it’s still football and a lot of things are doing what you’re coached to do and executing” Lewis said. “In offense, a little bit different scheme in the passing game. I went from an area read to a full field progression scheme. Luckily for Lewis, the changes in coaches isn’t a big transition since both Coach Canada for LSU and Coach Clark have many similarities. “They both have a ton of passion for the game”, said Lewis. “They’re also very big on discipline. Their day one meeting for both of them for the offense was ‘take care of all the non-talent issues. We’re going to be tough and we’re working hard, we’re giving maximum effort, we’re going to learn our technique, we’re going to line up right, we’re going to do all those things that don’t take any talent, we’re going to do those right and those are going to help us become a very good team, a great team”. Like any athlete, Lewis has some interesting pre game rituals. He makes up a new ritual each season. “I have very specific playlist that I make each season and I’m not really sure what I’m going to put on it for this year and I also don’t know what I’m going to do because we have turf on our home field, but I do a scene from The Gladiator when Maximus does before battle where he takes the dirt and rubs it on his hands and smells it, that’s one of my things I do” Lewis said. “I also pray along the sidelines and I also touch the turf every time I come on the field which are the major things.” Lewis is looking forward to winning with the Colonials during his time at RMU. “I’m excited to win. I’m excited to play ball. I’m excited to win with these guys, I’m really enjoying the team that we have and the guys that are here. Usually the biggest issue when a transfer comes in and whether he’s going to fit in with the team or not and they’ve been so welcoming and just embrace me. We’re having a great time, we really are”.
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![]() Moon, Pa. - The Robert Morris University women’s lacrosse won their first conference game of the season Sunday, as they took down the Mount St. Mary’s Mountaineers 14-4. The Mountaineers were the first ones to put their name on the board as attacker Carly Miller banged the ball past Colonial goaltender Katelynn Miller at 27:35 of the first half. Seconds later, Colonial midfielder Sophia Eureka tossed the ball on the ground which made its way past Mountaineer goaltender Jillian Petito. The Colonials had a chance to steal the lead as the ball fell behind Mountaineers goaltender Petito but was quickly saved by Petito as she realized the ball was near the goal line. Minutes later, midfielder Melanie Gandy spun the ball around to find an open shot and chucked the ball into the net to put the Colonials in a 2-1 lead. Colonial attacker Shannon Lynch with a great chance to advance lead but hit the top of the goal post. Mount St. Mary’s had a chance to tie the score but was robbed by Colonial goaltender Miller. Midway through the first, Colonial midfielder Sophia Eureka netted her second of the game and put the Colonials in a 3-1 lead. The Mountaineers would follow shortly after making the score 3-2. The Colonials were getting physical towards the end of the first half as the Colonials defense and goaltending was strong by preventing the Mountaineers to score. Midfielder Sophia Eureka continues her scoring streak as she found the back of Mount St. Mary’s net to make it 4-2 and shortly after, midfielder Madison Griffin would follow to make the score 5-2 Colonials at the end of the first half. Attacker Shannon Lynch opened up the second half with a goal at 28:02 to put the Colonials in a 6-3 lead. Four minutes later, midfielder Madison Griffin would follow with a goal to make it 7-2. Mount St. Mary’s responded shortly after the Griffin goal by attacker Carly Miller to put the Mountaineers back on the board, 7-3. The Colonials midfielder Dana Davis found the back of the net once again to make it 8-3. Davis is three goals away from netting her 100th career goal. Colonial attacker and midfielder Clio Kerr netted goals back to back to put the Colonials on top 10-3. Sophia Eureka continued her scoring streak as she tossed the ball past Mountaineer goalie Petito to steal the lead 11-3. Towards the end of the half, Midfielder Dana Davis chucked the ball behind Mountaineer’s goaltender to advance the score 12-3. Davis is now two goals away from 100. Clio Kerr netted her 3rd of the game to make it 13-3 Colonials at 8:23. To end the scoring drought, the Mountaineers attacker Taylor Carhart found the back of the net at 4:46 that put them up 13-4. The Colonials would win 14-4 by the last-minute goal from midfielder Melanie Gandy. Midfielder Sophia Eureka said the team wanted to forget the game on Friday and get back to their normal selves. “We wanted to go in and play like ourselves,” said Eureka. “We had a rough game on Friday. We were a little shaken up from that so we wanted to get back to playing our game.” Eureka scored a hat trick plus one in today’s match and she says she contributes her success to her teammates. “Definitely my teammates,” Eureka said. “I think most of my goals were assisted so I couldn’t have done it without them and everyone on the field.” Not only was the offense playing well, but the defense was better than previous games. Defender Kelly Colegrove said the defense wanted to come out and establish themselves in today’s game. “We only had two goals in the first half and two in the second and scored 8-meters so it was awesome to hold them to that,” said Colegrove. The defense forced the possession clock twice that really helped the defense throughout the game. “It’s really awesome but it kinda sucks when they get a new 90 but I think we held them great for a couple of times and got the ball”, Colegrove said. “We were down two players on defense and we still held them and got the ball back so that was really exciting”. Working together and staying consistent is what the Colonials did well to grab the 14-4 victory. “Everyone played well together,” Eureka said. “We wanted to get back to playing our brand of lacrosse and working together is a big part of that.” The Colonials are away next Friday at Saint Francis University at 4 pm. and then again April 20 at Bryant at 3 pm and April 22 at Central Connecticut at 12 pm. Robert Morris will be back home on April 27 as they host Sacred Heart at 3 pm. |
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