Furman 9, Bellarmine 7
GREENVILLE, S.C. – With 12:27 remaining and the game tied at 7, Furman lacrosse used goals by Jonah Moore and Kenny Meinsen to defeat Bellarmine, 9-7, for the Paladins’ first-ever win in Paladin Stadium. The win, both Furman and Bellarmine’s first Southern Conference game, moves the Paladins to 2-5 on the year and 1-0 in SoCon play, while the loss drops the Knights to 1-4 and 0-1 in conference play.
Robbie Betchley III, Kenny Meinsen, and Jonah Moore led Furman with two goals each, while Betchley added an assist to lead the Paladins with three points. Clay Adams, Jon Vandenberg and Patrick Reilly each added one goal, while Reilly, Vandenberg, and Meinsen each picked up a team-high four ground balls. Freshman goalie Reilly McDermott earned his second win of the season, recording ten saves on Bellarmine’s 36 shots.
Andrew Schoeneck led the Knights with two goals, while five other Knights each tallied a goal. Connor Harryman picked up a game-high seven ground balls, while goalie Drew Goethals added seven saves.
Bellarmine opened the scoring early in the first, with Jack Perkins netting the first goal of the day just 52 seconds into the contest. Both teams were kept off the board for the next ten minutes, before Furman broke the scoring drought with Patrick Reilly’s first goal of the season to tie the game at one. Bellarmine responded 30 seconds later to take a 2-1 lead, but Robbie Betchley and Jonah Moore then scored back-to-back goals in a 30 second time span to take a 3-2 lead. Clay Adams netted his second goal of the year with just 13 seconds on the clock to give Furman the 4-2 lead, but Bellarmine used a goal by Colin Hart to cut the score to 4-3 heading into the second quarter.
The Knights continued their scoring run, scoring two goals in the first five minutes of the second quarter to take a 5-4 lead with 10:19 left before halftime. Both teams’ defenses held strong for the next five minutes, before Jon Vandenberg picked up a ground ball with 5:04 remaining and tallied his first goal of the season to send the teams to halftime with the score tied at five.
The Paladins came out of the halftime locker room on the attack, with Betchley scoring his second goal of the day just 45 seconds into the third quarter to give Furman the 6-5 lead. Kenny Meinsen then scored his first goal of the day to put the Paladins up 7-5 with 11:30 left in the quarter. Bellarmine scored a man-up goal with 7:35 remaining, sending the game to the fourth quarter with Furman holding on to a 7-6 lead.
The Knights tied the game with 12:27 remaining in the fourth quarter, but the Furman defense prevailed, holding Bellarmine without a goal for the rest of the game, while Kenny Meinsen and Jonah Moore each netted their second goals of the day to give Furman the 9-7 victory.
Mercer 12, High Point 11 (OT)
MACON, Ga. – Mercer freshman Scott Baird netted two goals, including an unassisted overtime game winner to lift the men’s lacrosse team to a thrilling 12-11 win over High Point in Saturday’s Southern Conference opener at Five Star Stadium.
Mercer jumped to 1-5 (1-0 SoCon) on the year while High Point lost its second-straight and fell to 3-5 (0-1 SoCon).
With 1:28 to go in regulation, the Bears and Panthers were locked in a 10-10 tie when Mercer sophomore Chris Rahill fought off two defenders and found freshman Bryan Gibson open for a go-ahead goal.
Mercer senior Justin Evans won the ensuing faceoff, but a turnover gave High Point possession with roughly a minute to play. The Panthers would eventually get an equalizing tally from Michael Leclair with 26 seconds left to send the game to overtime.
High Point won the overtime faceoff and Leclair had a look at a game-winner, but Mercer junior Mike Nugent made a crucial save and freshman Patrick de Hueck secured the ground ball.
Mercer peppered High Point goalie Austin Geisler with four shots over the next minute, but couldn’t manage to find the net until Baird found himself isolated against a single defender on the right side. Baird put his back to the defender, pivoted and unleashed a high shot that deflected off Geisler and trickled into the goal with 1:47 on the clock.
Baird’s two-goal performance came on just three shots. His classmate Jackson Kleintz registered a hat-trick with three goals to go along with three ground balls.
Rahill paced the Mercer offense with six points on two goals and four assists. Two of his assists came in the final 7:33 of regulation. Senior Tim Geran scored twice and had an assist while juniors Chris Baxa and Ben LeSane each scored once.
Nugent finished with 20 saves, marking the second time this season he’s registered 20 or more stops. Mercer’s defenders forced High Point into nine turnovers, with sophomore Michael Edwards, freshman Dustin White and freshman Josh Adams all notching a caused turnover.
Evans won 12 of 26 faceoffs taken and the Bears were 20-of-21 on clear attempts. The hosts were also 3-of-4 on extra man opportunities, as Rahill, Baxa and Kleintz all scored man-up goals.
Shots finished dead even at 45-45, but the Bears benefited from a 30-21 advantage in ground balls. Evans booked a team-high five ground balls while Rahill and Adams secured four apiece.
Mercer improved to 2-0 in conference openers and 4-0 in league regular season home games under head coach Kyle Hannan. The Bears continue SoCon play at Furman on March 21.
Jacksonville 8, VMI 3
LEXINGTON, Va. – Senior Conor Igoe and the brothers Moore, Rob and Tom, each scored two goals and Quint Miller and Jet Harding each added one as the Jacksonville University men's lacrosse team won its Southern Conference opener 8-3 over VMI here Saturday.
The win was the second consecutive for JU (4-2, 1-0) and was its fifth straight win over the Keydets (0-7, 0-2) as the Dolphins held VMI to but a single goal in the second half.
The three goals given up set the school record for fewest in a game. The previous best was four which was done twice, against Providence in 2010 and Mercer in 2011.
After a low-scoring first half, JU led at the break, 3-2, Miller hit what turned out to be the game winner with 4:58 to play in the third quarter and the period ended at 4-2 Dolphins as JU shutout the Keydets.
Rob Moore and Igoe finished the job as Moore scored twice and Igoe once in the fourth quarter before Tom Moore, second in the nation in both points per game and assists per game, ended the scoring with a man-up goal with 1:42 to play on an assist from Igoe.
The two goals give Tom Moore a team-leading 15 goals on the season. Thirteen of them have come in the last four games.
The Dolphins, playing their fourth game in 11 days, jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter as Igoe connected just one minute, seven seconds into the contest. Tom Moore took an assist from Fernando Milanes with 6:51 to play in the opener and Harding scored JU's only goal of the second period with 7:51 to play.
Harding also had a team-leading four ground balls for the game and senior Austin Curtis had three. Goal keeper Bass Barfield recorded seven saves.
JU coach Guy Van Arsdale was pleased that the Dolphin defense was strong throughout and showed the versatility the team has.
The Dolphins are off until March 21 when they will play host to Richmond at 1 p. m. at D. B. Milne Field.
No. 2 North Carolina 16, Richmond 11
RICHMOND, Va. - Richmond goalie Benny Pugh tied the school record with 17 saves, but a third-quarter surge from second-ranked North Carolina doomed the Spiders in the pouring rain 16-11 Saturday at Robins Stadium.
Richmond had its two-game win streak snapped and falls to 4-3 on the year, while the Tar Heels, playing their first road game of the year, remain unbeaten in eight games.
The 11 goals scored in a loss are tied for the second-most in program history, behind the 12 goals scored in the 13-12 loss in the program’s inaugural game in 2014 to No. 7 Virginia.
The teams battled back and forth in the first half, with both squads posting back-to-back goals twice, but trading goals the rest of the way. North Carolina scored the first two goals in the opening two minutes, only to have Richmond answer with a pair to tie over the next five and a half minutes of game clock.
North Carolina’s Luke Gladstock scored the team’s second goal, the first of his game-high six goals in the contest, at the 13-minute mark.
Richmond made adjustments and got goals from Mickey Hofmeister and Mitch Goldberg at the midway point of the quarter.
The teams evenly traded the next six goals of the game for a five-all tie to the midway point of the second quarter after the first career goal for Richmond freshman Anthony Faraino and first season assist from junior Cory Palmer.
The Tar Heels scored the next two goals, both by Goldstock in the same minute, but Richmond redshirt junior midfielder Alex Hatem and Hofmeister scored consecutive goals in the waning minutes to put the game back even against at seven.
UNC’s Joey Sankey scored the first of his three goals of the game to end the half and give the Tar Heels an 8-7 lead at the break.
North Carolina outscored Richmond 6-1 in the third period to break away and take over the game. Sankey scored twice and Goldstock for the fifth time in that period. UNC outshot the Spiders 14-7 in the frame, despite Richmond winning five of the eight faceoffs in the period. The Spiders committed seven turnovers in the frame, the most of either team in a period in the contest.
Richmond rallied late, outscoring the Tar Heels 3-2 in the final period. Palmer and Goldberg posted goals to start the quarter, but a four-goal margin was as close as Richmond could attain in the final frame.
Seven different Spiders scored goals, with two each from Goldberg, Palmer, Hofmeister and Hatem. Richmond had single assists from five different Spiders.
Four Tar Heels had multi-goal outings. Jimmy Bitter posted five assists for North Carolina.
Pugh had at least four saves in all four quarters to tie the mark he set last March 15 against Saint Joseph’s, also in a loss. He is 4-3 on the season for the Spiders.
The win in goal went to North Carolina’s Kieran Burke, who stopped 15 Richmond shots. He is 3-0 this season for the Tar Heels.
Both teams ended up successful in clearing the ball and they were within four shots of one another (44-40 in favor of North Carolina), but the Tar Heels had 18 more ground balls (49-31) than Richmond. The Spiders had one more turnover (20-19) than the Tar Heels as both defenses were aggressive near the goals.
The Spiders will return to Southern Conference play with its first-ever trip to Jacksonville, for a 1 p.m. start next Saturday. Richmond will turn around and host NJIT the following Monday, March 23, at 4 p.m. in Robins Stadium. Admission is free.