Men's Lacrosse Recap (Week 3) - Around The SCAC

Men's Lacrosse Recap (Week 3) - Around The SCAC

SUWANEE, Ga. - Colorado College began its 2011 season picking up two tough wins in Pennsylvania. The reigning Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference men's lacrosse champions notched wins over Goucher and Swarthmore (Pa.). The Tigers have started 2-0 or better for the third time in the past six years.

AROUND THE SCAC

Birmingham-Southern went 1-1 last week with an 11-4 win against Berry College at home and a 14-8 loss to Wittenberg University in Clearwater, Fla. Sophomore Matt Ivie led the Panthers with six goals in the win, while junior D.J. Ward had three goals and three assists. No stats were available for the game against Wittenberg. BSC takes on Plattsburgh State University on Monday in Columbia, S.C., then returns home to face Millsaps on Friday and Hendrix on Sunday.
   
Centre faced Mount St. Joseph on Wednesday, March 9 in Cincinnati, Ohio and fell by a sore of 23-7. Centre then traveled to Gahanna, Ohio to face Otterbein on Saturday, March 12 and then Colonels fought hard, but came up short as they lost 14-7. The Colonels will return home on Friday, March 18 to play in their first conference game of the season when they face Southwestern at 4 p.m. Centre is currently 1-2 on the season.  

Colorado College opened the season with victories against Goucher College and at Swarthmore College on back-to-back days. The Tigers exploded for seven of the first eight goals during the second half and then held on for an 11-9 victory in its season opener against Goucher. Carson Christman ignited the 7-1 run with a pair of goals that tied the game at 5-5 midway through the third period, and then Steve Rijo and Jack Kreitler scored just 16 second apart to give the Tigers a two-goal lead with 6:10 remaining in the frame. Moses Taylor and Will Harris scored in a span of 12 seconds early in the fourth period as the Tigers built the largest lead of the game at 10-6 with 12:54 to play. Harris’s goal was the first of his career and proved to be the game winner. Zach Steedman made the two of his 12 saves on the ensuing possession and Rijo added an open-net score with 1:18 to play to seal the victory. Chris Kolodey had five ground balls and caused a pair of turnovers, while Buck McKenna won 10 of 16 faceoffs for CC. Rijo scored 45 seconds into overtime to give Colorado College a 9-8 victory at Swarthmore on Sunday. Taylor and Kreitler each scored a pair of goals for the Tigers. Christman had a goal and two assists in the offensive zone, and also posted career highs with seven ground balls and caused four turnovers. Steedman made eight saves, while McKenna had five ground balls and five caused turnovers. CC begins conference play on Saturday at Sewanee. 

Hendrix dropped its third straight game on Saturday. Trine University junior Blaine Stahley scored three goals to lead the Thunder to a 7-3 victory over Hendrix. Trine controlled the tempo from the start and owned a 31-13 shots advantage. The Thunder also went 3-for-8 in extra man opportunities and was successful on 15-of-15 clears. The Warriors failed to take advantage of their three extra man opportunities and were successful on just 14-of-27 clears. Trine went up early with two goals in the first quarter and stretched its lead to 4-0 in the second, before sophomore David Davis, Jr. put Hendrix on the board with just eight seconds left before the break. The Warriors scored right out of the gate to start the second half as junior Sam Brisson connected with senior Dan Fox with 14:10 on the clock. The Thunder answered with two consecutive scores inside a two minute span to stretch the gap to 6-2. Trine scored its final goal with five minutes left in regulation and Brisson netted the Warriors last goal with 1:33 left on the clock. Hendrix junior Keith Clemens made 15 saves in the loss, while senior Alex Gregg denied six shots for the win.

Millsaps dropped two this weekend in Irving, Texas at the University of Dallas. They scored three goals in the final quarter on Saturday, but couldn’t complete the comeback, 10-4 against the home-standing Crusaders. They then lost a neutral site game to Concordia University 19-4 on Sunday. Taylor Page had two goals against the Crusaders on Saturday to lead the team, and Hunter Stevison had one goal and two assists against Concordia. The Majors will travel over to Birmingham on Friday to take on Birmingham-Southern in the SCAC opener for both teams. Game time is set for 5 p.m. at Panther Stadium.

Oglethorpe was off this past week. The Petrels are currently 1-1 in their inaugural lacrosse season. Oglethorpe will host lacrosse on campus for the first time this Wednesday when the Petrels take on Carthage College. The Petrels also have home dates this weekend with conference foes Hendrix and Millsaps.
  
Sewanee dropped its only two contests of the week to move to 1-4 on the season. On Thursday, Sewanee pulled within three goals late against the Guilford Quakers, but it wasn’t enough to overcome an early 7-0 deficit and the Tigers fell 13-10 on the road. Freshman Davis Brown converted four goals for Sewanee, while goalkeeper Tommy Healy recorded 13 saves. Teddy Peterson was 5 of 12 on face-offs and notched three groundballs. On Sunday, the Tigers found themselves tied 6-6 with Catholic at halftime but the Cardinals scored five unanswered goals to open the third quarter before taking home a 14-10 win over Sewanee. Pierce Leonard grabbed four goals for Sewanee, while Brown added two goals. Sewanee will host Colorado College at noon on March 19.   

Southwestern played three games in Texas to move to 3-4 on the season. The Pirates played Marymount in an evening game at Rhodes Stadium in Katy, Texas, falling 15-7 on Monday night. SU returned home to face Trine and started out fast but the scoring tapered off to lose 14-5. A huge second half lifted the Pirates to a win against Berry College on Sunday afternoon, 10-7. The Pirates remain at home to face nationally-ranked RPI on Tuesday afternoon before opening up conference action against Centre on Friday and Sewanee on Sunday on the road.

For the complete SCAC Men's Lax Weekly for Week 3, click here.