No. 13 Marquette 14, Mercer 6
MACON, Ga. – Sophomore Chris Rahill scored two goals for the third-straight game as the Mercer men’s lacrosse team fell to No. 13 Marquette, 14-6 on Sunday at Five Star Stadium.
Mercer slipped to 0-5 on the year while Marquette won its seventh game and remained unbeaten.
Rahill cashed in on both of his shots on goal and notched one assist. Sophomore Chris Baxa and Kevin Yoggy each found the net once while freshmen Matt Quinn and James Fromert both added tallies.
Quinn scored unassisted to stake the Bears to a 1-0 lead just 3:25 into the game, but the Bears’ next score wouldn’t come until the third quarter as the Golden Eagles ripped off 11-unanswered.
The Bears out-shot the Golden Eagles 21-16 in the second and third quarters, but couldn’t convert those chances into goals. For the game, the Bears owned a 39-33 advantage in shots and placed 20 of the attempts on frame.
Rahill broke the scoring drought with 3:39 to go in the third period to help the Bears finish the game on a 5-3 run. Mercer got within six of the lead on Yoggy’s unassisted score with 4:22 to play, but Marquette closed with two goals in the final 80 seconds of action to cement the win.
Junior goalie Mike Nugent faced 23 shots on goal and made nine stops. Marquette put three different players in net and finished with 14 saves.
Senior Justin Evans won half of the 16 faceoffs he took in the game. Freshman Marco Amalfitano was also 50 percent successful on faceoffs, taking six before all was said and done.
The Bears were 15-of-16 on clear attempts and forced six Marquette turnovers. Freshman Brian McDonald was credited with a team-high three caused turnovers.
The Bears now turn their focus to Southern Conference play, making the league debut against High Point on March 14. Game time at Five Star Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Air Force 12, VMI 8
BETHESDA, Md. - Seven different VMI Keydets scored, led by Wesley Sanders' two goals, but Chris Walsch tallied five scores for the Air Force Falcons to lead them to a 12-8 win in non-conference lacrosse action Sunday afternoon at The Landon School in Bethesda, Md.
The Keydets (0-6) fell behind 6-1 early, but rallied to close to within 6-5 late in the third period. Walsch scored at 3:29 and 2:18 of the third, however, to start a five-goal run for the Falcons (3-4) that put the game away. VMI scored three of the final four goals, but could not overcome the deficit.
Walsch led all scorers with five goals and two assists for a total of seven points. Keith Dreyer had four goals and one helper, while Christopher Allen chipped in three goals as well. For the Keydets, Sanders had two goals and Dan Bull had a goal and an assist.
One day after committing 29 turnovers, the Keydets cut that number to 12 and improved their clear percentage to 13 of 15 as well. Air Force held a 36-23 edge in shots, while Evan Windisch made 12 saves for the Keydets and Doug Gouchoe stopped six shots for Air Force.
The game started slowly, with only two Air Force goals being scored in the first 12-plus minutes. Tom Nofi got VMI on the board with 2:16 left in the first, scoring off a Bull assist to make it a 2-1 game.
The teams then traded 4-goal runs, with VMI's cutting the Air Force lead to 6-5 in the third and setting the stage for Walsch to open the Falcons' decisive spurt. Brad Nardella, Tyler Prasnicki and Bull scored late for the Keydets.
VMI lacrosse will return to action March 14, as the Keydets play host to Jacksonville at Drill Field #2. Action gets underway at noon.