(Story courtesy of Birmingham-Southern College)
OWINGS MILLS, Md. - In their first-ever NCAA appearance, the Birmingham-Southern Panthers lost to No. 5 Stevenson University, 13-2, Wednesday evening in Mustang Stadium in the first round of the NCAA Men's Lacrosse Championship. Box Score
BSC ends its season at 14-5, while Stevenson moves to 16-4 and will advance to the next round to face No. 20 Gettysburg on Saturday.
The Panthers scored the first goal of the game less than three minutes in, courtesy of freshman Erik Klein's 62nd goal of the year and sophomore Michael Sanicola's 20th assist.
The BSC lead was short-lived as Stevenson scored less than 30 seconds later to tie it up, then took the lead at the 9:15 mark of the first quarter. The Mustangs scored once more before the end of the quarter, and then out-scored the Panthers 6-0 in the second quarter to go up 9-1 by halftime.
Stevenson scored once to open the third quarter before the Panthers scored their second - and final - goal of the game at the 5:54 mark, an unassisted goal by senior Jacob McPherson, putting his season total at 43.
The Mustangs scored once more before the end of the third quarter, then twice more in the fourth.
Junior goalkeeper Andrew Huffman made a strong defensive effort for BSC, recording 15 saves. Senior Chris Clarke also had six ground balls to lead the Panthers, and he ends the season with 118 total.
The Mustangs out-shot the Panthers 47-25 and picked up more ground balls, 32-12. BSC missed several man-up opportunities, going 1-9 in extra-man situations while Stevenson was 4-10. The Mustangs also won 13-of-18 face-offs and were 16-of-17 on clears while BSC was 15-of-19.
