By Phil Murphy
Senior Multimedia/Content Editor
Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area

After a goal by Madison senior Mike McCool only 59 seconds into the fourth quarter cut Robinson's lead to one goal, the Warhawks had spent the period's entirety nipping at the Ram heels.

Eleven minutes later, it only took a steal and flick for Robinson to cruise into the Northern Region quarterfinals.

Ram senior middie Jacob Martens won a ground ball and -- with the Warhawk keeper out of the cage -- found senior attackman Daniel McNulty atop the crease for easy, victory-clinching goal.

The strike by the Robinson captain with :30 seconds remaining completed his hat trick and cemented the 9-6 win over Madison on the road in the opening round of the regional tournament on Tuesday.

"Jake Martens made an incredible play, an incredible hustle play," said McNulty, who tallied his second-straight hat trick. "I was yelling, 'Yellow.' I wanted us to slow the ball down because we didn't need a goal there. But he gave me a great feed and I put it away and kind of put the game away for us.

"That was a great feeling because we knew we had won at the end."

For McNulty, the hat trick was derived from the law of probability as much as the scoring chances that led to his shot attempts.

McNulty attempted a team-high 10 shots, a total equaling nearly 37-percent of the Rams' total shots and what significantly greater than their second-highest individual total, shared by six players -- two.

"We play best when we shoot probably between 30 and 40 shots," said Robinson coach Justin Fitzgerald, whose team had 28 total shot attempts. "Anything less than that, we don't tend to take chances when we need to.

"And we wanted Daniel, he's our best player, we wanted him to take the liberty of taking a lot of shots."

Added McNulty, committed to play at Jacksonville: "Coach just told me to let it rip before the game, to let my hands go and see what happens."

Unfortunately for the Rams, their keeper was under an even greater barrage as the Warhawks unloaded 39 saves on the visiting cage.

But accuracy was an issue for host Madison, as was the man between the pipes, Robinson junior Kennand Kevan.

Kevan, who had an early-afternoon distraction rattle his composure, finished with a game-high 15 saves.

"We knew their offense was really quick," McNulty said. "They've got a lot of real quick guys and they get a lot of garbage goals. We watched a lot of the games they played and they got a lot of garbage goals.

"Our D really stepped up, they were huge for us. Kennand, our goalie, played awesome. He had some huge saves at the end. All of our defense -- individually and as a team -- played great."

Added Fitzgerald, on his second-team All-Concorde District goalkeeper: "Kennand, last season, he started for us. We knew we'd have to count on him for some big-time saves.

"He had some trouble clearing the ball there early in the game. He got a speeding ticket right before he came to our meeting before the bus ride over, and sometimes for a high-school kid, mentally, that's tough to deal with."

It's safe to assume that the Warhawks, despite their season-ending loss on Tuesday, are enjoying life in the fast lane a little more than Kevan.

Madison went 9-1 in the regular season, handed Langley its only loss in the finale and finished second in the Liberty District tournament.

While Robinson got the better of the home side in this elimination, its coach sees an area-wide lacrosse renaissance that is closing the gap between the Concorde District and the other three districts in the Northern Region.

"Coach [Rich] Hodge has done a tremendous job with those guys," said Fitzgerald, whose team travels to face National District champion Mount Vernon (11-5) in the Northern Region quarterfinals on Thursday. "With regional honors, the Liberty District cleaned house on the offensive side of the field. We knew we'd have to match up against [Mike] Hayden and [Will] Cybulski and need one of our better defensive efforts to win the game.

"It says a lot about how there are so many more kids playing lacrosse nowadays. And a lot of coaches in the Region -- if you came to the regional meeting -- a lot of those guys are working with their program in the off-season.

"I think, overall, you're seeing an explosion of a lot more kids playing lacrosse."

Email: pmurphy@digitalsports.com

          (L2) Madison     (11-3)     1  2  1  2  --  6
          (C3) Robinson    (7-6)      3  1  2  3  --  9

Goals:
MD - Gordan Bailey (2), Mike McCool (2), Mike Hayden, Nathan Oster.
RB - Dan McNulty (3), Alex Barber (2), Jacob Martens, Patrick Miller, Connor Ruddy, Jason Stein.

Assists:
MD - Will Cybulski (3), Mike Hayden, Tyler Wilkinson.
RB - Jacob Martens, Connor Ruddy, Thurmond Shaw.

Shots:
MD - Will Cybulski (10), Mike Hayden (10), Gordan Bailey (8), Mike McCool (4), Matt Russiello (3), Tommy Sampson (2), Nathan Oster (1), Jack Rowe (1).
RB - Dan McNulty (10), Alex Barber (2), Jacob Martens (2), Patrick Miller (2), Thomas Petrocci (2), Connor Ruddy (2), Thurmond Shaw (2), Carter Eskew (1), Wynton Fox (1), Clarke Pietruszka (1), Jason Stein (1).

Saves:
MD - Ryan Cass - 4.
RB - Kennand Kevan - 15.

Goals (Time Left in Half)  --  Score
1st Quarter                              
RB - Patrick Miller (10:13) -- 0-1
MD - Mike Hayden (8:37) -- 1-1
RB - Dan McNulty (7:36) -- 1-2
RB - Connor Ruddy (5:47) -- 1-3
2nd Quarter                               
RB - Alex Barber (7:29) -- 1-4
MD - Gordan Bailey (6:04) -- 2-4
MD - Nathan Oster (4:52) -- 3-4
3rd Quarter                               
RB - Dan McNulty (9:19) -- 3-5
RB - Jason Stein (6:28) -- 3-6
MD - Gordan Bailey (5:19) -- 4-6
4th Quarter                               
MD - Mike McCool (11:01) -- 5-6
RB - Alex Barber (9:11) -- 5-7
MD - Mike McCool (7:04) -- 6-7
RB - Jacob Martens (1:34) -- 6-8
RB - Dan McNulty (0:30) -- 6-9