Mercer 8, Bellarmine 6
MACON, Ga. – Mercer sophomore Chris Rahill notched his first career hat trick to lead the men’s lacrosse team to an 8-6 victory over Bellarmine at Five Star Stadium on Saturday.
Mercer’s third straight win pushed the team to 3-5 on the year and positions the Bears atop the Southern Conference standings with an unblemished 3-0 record. Bellarmine slipped to 2-5 (1-2 SoCon).
Mercer never trailed in the game after two Rahill scores helped the Bears bust open a 3-0 first quarter lead. He added another tally in the fourth quarter and finished with three goals on six total shots.
Junior Chris Baxa netted a pair of goals while freshman Jackson Kleintz, sophomore Ben LeSane and freshman Scott Baird also reached the scoring column. As a team, the Bears placed 17 of their 30 shots on goal.
After the Bears took a 3-0 lead in the first stanza, the Knights outscored the hosts 2-1 in the second frame to trim their deficit to two at intermission. Baird found Baxa open for the first goal out of the break, but Bellarmine was able to tack on two more goals to make it a slim 5-4 Mercer advantage entering the fourth quarter.
Baxa found the net again with 10:03 to play to get the buffer back to two, and Rahill and Kleintz each scored inside the final four minutes to seal the victory. Bellarmine sophomore Jack Perkins scored with 24 seconds left to account for the final margin.
Junior goalie Mike Nugent made 15 saves while facing 21 shots on goal. Five of Nugent’s stops came in the first quarter to help the Bears assume the early lead.
The six goals allowed by the Mercer defense marked the fewest since a 16-5 victory at Wagner on March 30, 2014. Senior Justin Woods caused three turnovers to lead seven different defenders with at least one caused turnover.
Mercer senior Justin Evans and Bellarmine freshman Connor Harryman split 18 faceoffs evenly at nine apiece. The Knights committed five penalties while the Bears were only whistled for one infraction.
The Bears continue Southern Conference play at VMI on April 4. Game time in Lexington, Virginia is slated for noon.
High Point 10, Furman 3
HIGH POINT, N.C. – The High Point University men's lacrosse team used a 7-0 run through the middle of the game to pull away for a 10-3 victory over Furman on Saturday in Vert Stadium.
The Panthers (5-5, 1-1) were led by three goals from junior Dan Lomas and 16 saves from freshman Zach Tuell. Furman (2-7. 1-2) received two goals from Clay Adams, but only had one other goal scorer as HPU set a new program record by allowing just three goals on the day.
Lomas' first goal, which came right before halftime, made him the first player in High Point lacrosse history to score 100 goals in his career.
Sophomore Michael LeClair led the offense in scoring with four points (2g, 2a). Meanwhile, freshman Jason Ashwood registered his first multi-goal game and tallied a career-high four ground balls. Redshirt-junior Brad James and freshman Peyton Garrett each tallied goals while freshman T Moyer dished out two assists.
Tuell won the battle of freshmen goalkeepers, holding Furman to just three goals while posting a save percentage of .889. On the other side, Furman's Reilly McDermott made 13 saves and held HPU scoreless through the first 12 minutes of the game, before the Panthers went on their 7-0 run.
Junior Jamie Piluso controlled the face-off circle, going 11-of-14 (.786) while tallying six ground balls and his second goal of the season. The Purple & White earned a +12 advantage (32-20) in ground balls as senior Pat Farrell, junior Adam Seal and LeClair each registered three ground balls.
Junior Zack Price and Farrell caused four turnovers apiece as the Panthers caused 11 of the Paladins' 15 turnovers in the game. HPU fired 35 shots with 23 on goal while Furman attempted 36 shots with 19 on goal.
Neither team was able to score early as the young goalies kept a lid on the goals in the early going. Furman was able to break through first, scoring with a goal from Adams with 4:08 on the clock. The Panthers evened the score when LeClair found James who fired a shot past McDermott with 1:43 left in the quarter.
HPU killed a penalty as the first quarter clock expired before getting a man-up score from Garrett off an assist from Moyer (2-1, 14:30). LeClair then extended the Panthers' lead to 3-1 with 5:44 until the half.
Piluso won the ensuing face-off and Moyer got a great shot off on goal. McDermott made a great stop, but Ashwood was there to pick up the rebound and score to give HPU a 4-1 advantage with 4:02 on the clock.
Ashwood struck again after picking up a ground ball and scoring in transition to make it 5-1 with 1:21 on the clock. The Panthers closed out the half with Lomas' first goal of the day and 100th goal of his career (6-1, 0:28).
After the half, Lomas scored a ridiculous dodging goal at the 12:17 mark to extend HPU's run to 7-0. The Paladins finally stopped the run with a goal by Kenny Meinsen to pull within five goals (7-2, 8:36).
Piluso started the fourth quarter in style, winning the face-off and taking it in for a goal (8-2, 14:52). LeClair, then, upped the lead seven with an unassisted goal at the 11:14 mark in the final stanza.
Lomas tacked on another goal with 3:04 to play for his third score of the afternoon (10-2). The Paladins notched their third and final goal when Adams scored with 20 seconds to go to make the final 10-3.
The Panthers return to action on Saturday, April 4 when they travel to Florida for another Southern Conference showdown with Jacksonville at 2 p.m.
No. 8 Virginia 14, Richmond 7
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. - Facing its third nationally-ranked opponent of the season, Richmond dropped a road result at No, 8 Virginia 14-7 at Klockner Stadium Saturday afternoon. The loss ends Richmond’s third two-game win streak of the season and drops the Spiders to 6-4, while the Cavaliers improve to 8-2.
Virginia scored first on the first of four goals by Ryan Tucker at the 13:04 mark in the opening quarter.
Richmond answered with a goal from Dan Ginestro with 9:29 remaining in the period, but the Cavaliers scored the last three goals of the quarter and never trailed.
The Spiders saw two-goal days from Alex Hatem and J.P. Forester, but the Cavaliers offense had too much potency in the victory.
Freshman Eric Haehl had a goal and two assists for the Spiders and sophomore Mitch Goldberg added a goal and an assist in the game.
Richmond gave up eight more shots (34-26) and 14 more ground balls (37-23), but the Spiders scored on one of its man-up opportunities, holding Virginia scoreless in three man advantages.
Sophomore goalie Benny Pugh recorded nine saves in the loss, as his record sits at 6-4.
The Spiders will return home Saturday at 1:30 p.m. in a Southern Conference game against Furman.
Air Force 18, Jacksonville 5
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The Jacksonville University men's lacrosse team was unable to slow down Air Force on Saturday as the Dolphins suffered an 18-5 loss on Saturday afternoon.
The two teams matched scores over the first eight minutes of action after Conor Igoe opened the game with a goal just three minutes into the contest. Air Force would then rip off six unanswered goals spanning the first and second quarters to seize control. Chase Mcintyre finally ended the drought for Jacksonville with his 15th goal of the year off an assist from Tom Moore before two more goals by the Falcons gave them a 10-3 lead at halftime.
The second half saw more of the same from Air Force (5-5), which held a 5-0 advantage in the third quarter to build a 15-3 advantage.
Jacksonville (4-4) added goals from Chase Miller and Zac Buller in the fourth quarter to account for the Dolphins final margin.
Bass Barfield and Addison Sherwood combined for 12 saves in goal for Jacksonville. Curtis added two ground balls and a caused turnover to his goal while Mike Diggle had two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Austin Collins led the team with three groundballs.
The Dolphins return home to D.B. Milne Field as they face conference foe High Point on Saturday, April 4 at 2 p.m.