Richmond 9, Saint Joseph's 5
RICHMOND, Va. - Redshirt senior transfer Mickey Hofmeister put together a hat trick in his first game in a Richmond uniform and goalie Benny Pugh posted 12 saves as the Richmond Spiders began their second season of lacrosse with a 9-5 home win over Saint Joseph’s Saturday at Robins Stadium.
The win was the first for Richmond in a home opener and a season opener, in the program’s second season of existence. The Spiders are now 3-0 in games in which it faces an opponent for a second time. The Spiders beat Mercer and High Point in the Atlantic Sun Championship after losing to both teams in the regular season in 2014.
Richmond held the Hawks, a team that scored over 11 goals a game last year, to just two goals through three quarters, including a scoreless third quarter.
The game’s highlight may have come in the fourth, when the Spiders were three men down for 30 seconds and two men down for 30 more right after and held off the Hawks, despite six shots taken in that stretch.
The Spiders got the season’s first goal a little over five minutes in, when junior Cory Palmer scored an unassisted goal for the 1-0 lead.
The Hawks answered at the end of the quarter to tie the score after the period ended. SJU took the lead by scoring the first goal of the second, but the Spiders closed the half by scoring three goals, and added both in the third to lead 6-2 at the end of three.
Sophomore J.P. Forester scored with 13 seconds remaining in the half and the first goal of the third, five minutes in, as the first player with a multi-goal game.
The teams combined for five goals in the first four minutes of the fourth quarter, with the Spiders answering the SJU push.
Hofmeister scored for the first time with nine seconds to go in the third, and he put in the last two goals of the game, at the 11-miniute mark, and again with 4:20 to go in regulation.
The Hawks did not score from the start of the second to the start of the fourth, a stretch of 29:29 during the Spiders’ 5-0 run, the essential difference in the game.
Richmond will remain at home over the next five contests. UR hosts Rutgers next Saturday, with the opening faceoff at noon.
No. 3 Duke 16, High Point 13
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men’s lacrosse team took No. 3 Duke to the brink, but fell 16-13 in a packed Vert Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The two-time defending national champions Blue Devils (1-0) scored five straight goals after the game was tied at 7-7 half. However, the Panthers (1-1) clawed back with a 5-1 run to knot the score 13-13 with 10:19 left to play. But a 3-0 run in the final three minutes allowed Duke to pull out the victory.
The Purple & White offense posted 21 points led by sophomore Michael LeClair with six points (2g, 4a). Junior Matt Thistle dished out four assists while sophomore Cole Carns upped his career high in goals to four.
Redshirt-senior Austin Geisler had a solid performance in goal with 18 saves and four ground balls. Senior Pat Farrell led the defense with three caused turnovers while junior Zack Price caused two.
HPU was nearly flawless in their man-up attack scoring on 4-of-5 opportunities with junior Dan Lomas adding all three of his goals in man-up situations. Junior Tyler Cook chipped in with two goals and freshman T Moyer tallied his first career goal and assist.
Freshman Connor Robinson rounded out the scoring with his first career goal. Redshirt-juniors Brad James and Harris Levine each registered one assist.
Junior Jamie Piluso went 13-of-33 (39 percent) on face-offs and had a team-high six ground balls. The Blue Devils won the ground ball battle 38-24 and earned a 47-28 advantage in shots. HPU kept the game close with 75 percent of their shots being on the goal.
Duke struck first with a goal by Chad Cohan 50 seconds into the game. The Blue Devils added two goals in 50 seconds to earn a 3-0 advantage with 6:21 left in the first quarter.
The Panthers responded when Thistle found LeClair for a goal to make it 3-1 with 4:39 remaining in the opening quarter. Duke built its lead back up to three (4-1) before LeClair found Cook for a goal with 34 seconds on the clock. However, the Blue Devils were able to add a goal in the closing seconds to wrap up the opening quarter with a 5-2 advantage.
Duke opened the scoring in the second quarter as Case Matheis made it 6-2 with 14:05 on the clock. The Panthers stormed back with three straight goals by Robinson, Carns and LeClair to cut the lead to one at 6-5 with eight minutes left in the half.
Guterding had the answer 90 seconds later for the Blue Devils to make it 7-5. But the Panthers fought right back and Moyer’s first career goal on an assist by Thistle made it a 7-6 game (4:41).
Moments later James found Lomas for the game-tying goal with 4:12 on the clock. Neither team was able to score in the final four minutes and the game went to the half tied 7-7.
After the break, Duke came out on fire and scored five unanswered goals in the first nine minutes of the third quarter to build a 15-7 lead with 6:05 on the clock. LeClair found Carns for a goal to halt the Blue Devils’ run at the 3:22 mark and cut the deficit to 12-8.
Lomas added his second man-up goal to make it 12-9 before Carns pulled the Panthers within two with his third goal of the contest at 12-10 (1:57).
Myles Jones stopped the HPU run with a goal at the 1:19 mark to send the game to the fourth quarter with Duke up 13-10.
Thistle connected with Lomas to score the first goal of the fourth quarter and bring the Panthers back within two goals at 13-11 with 14:38 to play. HPU, then, got it down to one as LeClair found Cook with 12 minutes on the clock.
Carns pulled the Panthers back into a tie at 13-13 with his fourth goal of the game (10:19). But Jones had the response for Duke and sparked a 3-0 run to close the game and earn a 16-13 victory.
The game took place in front of a crowd of 1,892, the largest of the year at Vert Stadium.
High Point will take their first road trip of the season when they head to Chapel Hill, N.C. to take on No. 6 North Carolina on Tuesday at 4 p.m.
No. 5 North Carolina 19, Furman 4
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – Behind a balanced offensive attack, No. 5/6 North Carolina powered past Furman, 19-4, in the 2015 season opener on Saturday in Chapel Hill, N.C. The win moves North Carolina to 1-0, while the loss drops the Paladins to 0-1 to start its second season.
Freshman Jonah Moore scored two goals to lead Furman, while sophomore Zach Coker added two assists. Stephen Wierzbicki and Trevor Atkins each added a goal, while sophomore Jake Gavin recorded nine saves.
North Carolina opened the game immediately on the offensive attack, scoring two goals in the first 1:20 of the first period to take a 2-0 lead. Freshman Jonah Moore scored the first goal of his career on an assist from Zach Coker to cut the North Carolina lead to 2-1 with 12:27 remaining in the first. Furman then held UNC to two goals over the next nine minutes, before Jonah Moore scored his second goal of the day to cut the lead to two at 4-2 with 17 seconds remaining in the first. North Carolina scored a goal with just one second remaining to take a 5-2 lead over Furman after the first period.
Furman’s defense came out strong in the second period, holding the Tar Heels scoreless for the first 4:35, before Joey Sankey scored his third goal of the day to stretch the lead to 6-2. Following a Hil Blaze faceoff win, Trevor Atkins scored his first goal as a Paladin on an assist by Stephen Wierzbicki to cut the lead to 6-3 with 9:00 left in the second period. Furman continued to keep North Carolina off the board, controlling the ball for the next four minutes of the period, before the Tar Heels tacked on another goal with 5:15 left in the period to take a 7-3 lead. North Carolina added another three goals in the second period to take a 10-3 lead into halftime.
North Carolina continued its offensive pressure, scoring five goals in the first 5:30 of the third period to take a 15-3 lead over the Paladins. Stephen Wierzbicki added his first goal of the season, on an assist by Zach Coker, to cut the North Carolina lead to 15-4 with 7:12 remaining in the third period, but the Tar Heels close out the third period with two more goals, to take a 17-4 lead into the final period.
The Paladins defense held strong in the fourth, allowing just two UNC goals as the Tar Heels defeated the Paladins 19-4.
Furman is back in action next Saturday, opening the home portion of the 2015 season with No. 16 Lehigh at 11:00 a.m.
Michigan 16, Bellarmine 9
ANN ARBOR, Mich. — The Bellarmine University lacrosse team dropped its season opener as Michigan used a decisive third period en route to a 16-9 win Saturday over the Knights at Oosterbaan Field House.
Bellarmine (0-1) led 4-2 after the first quarter and 7-5 at halftime. However, the Wolverines (1-0) pulled ahead by outscoring BU 7-1 in the third frame and 11-2 overall in the second half.
Sophomore Austin Shanks recorded a hat trick for Bellarmine, with all three of his goals coming in the second period. Sophomore Jack Perkins added two goals and an assist while sophomore Tucker Ciessau, freshman Austin Streeter, senior Grant Beczkalo and senior Ryan Scinta chipped in one goal apiece. Scinta collected three assists and junior Taylor Stuart contributed one.
David McCormack and Mikie Schlosser had four goals apiece for Michigan, which evened the all-time series with the Knights at two apiece. Ian King registered three assists for the Wolverines, who had a 38-32 advantage in shots and won 17-of-28 face-offs.
A former conference rival of Bellarmine, Michigan connected on seven of its eight shots in the third quarter. The Wolverines scored five unanswered goals in less than four minutes to turn a 7-5 deficit into a 10-7 lead. David Joseph scored the go-ahead goal at the 9:40 mark, and Schlosser notched a hat trick on Michigan's fifth straight score.
Scinta answered with less than three minutes left to cut Bellarmine's deficit to 10-8, but the Wolverines scored twice more in the period, including Kyle Jackson's goal with one second left. Ciessau added a goal for the Knights in the final quarter, but Michigan racked up four more to account for the final margin.
The game started out well for Bellarmine, as the Knights raced out to a 5-2 lead early in the second quarter. Beczkalo scored the first goal of the season for BU. Perkins found the net twice in a row and, after Scinta spotted Streeter for a score, he set up Shanks' first goal as Bellarmine scored four unanswered.
Michigan got to within 5-4 in the second quarter, but Shanks wrapped two more goals around a Wolverines score to lead 7-5 at halftime. Scinta and Stuart compiled assists on the scoring plays.
Bellarmine plays at Robert Morris next Saturday.
Boston University 18, Mercer 6
BOSTON, Mass. – Mercer junior Chris Baxa booked his first career hat trick, but the men's lacrosse team fell behind 3-0 and couldn't recover in an 18-6 loss at Boston University Saturday night.
Mercer dropped its season opener for the first time since 2012, while Boston avenged its season opening loss to the Bears last season.
Baxa finished with a career-high four points on three goals and an assist while also notching three ground balls. Sophomore Chris Rahill netted two goals on four shots, while his classmate James Tautkus found the net once.
The Terriers peppered the Bears with 17 shots in the first quarter and had three different players score while taking a 6-1 lead. In the second quarter, Boston won all six faceoffs taken and added another five goals to assume an 11-1 halftime advantage.
After intermission, Baxa and Tautkus attempted to start a rally by scoring back-to-back goals and cutting the margin to eight. The Terriers responded with three-unanswered scores and were never threatened afterwards en route to the win.
Sophomore goalkeeper Mike Nugent made 15 saves and secured one ground ball in the losing effort. Eight different Mercer defenders forced turnovers, led by freshman midfielder Matt Quinn's team-leading two caused turnovers.
The game was originally scheduled for 1 p.m., but was pushed back to 9:30 p.m. due to inclement weather. The Bears return to Macon for their home opener against defending National Champion Duke on Feb. 15.