Men’s Lacrosse Loses 9-8 to CNU

By SAMSON BELAY

The men’s lacrosse team fell to 2-3 on the season after they were defeated by the Christopher Newport University Captains 9-8 this past Sunday, March 6 in rainy Newport News, Va. The story of the game was missed opportunities, as the Captains took a slight edge over the Eagles 9-8 late in the fourth quarter.

Senior Evan Weiss contributed heavily in the early going, as he scored the only two Eagle goals in the opening period to keep the game knotted up at 2-2. The second quarter seemed to be the pivotal turning point for both teams. After a quiet start to the second, the tie game quickly vanished as the host Captains splurged with an onslaught of goals in the middle of the period.

Christopher Newport scored five goals in the final 8:30 of the second, connecting on five of nine shots in that span. In the midst of the CNU run, UMW’s Sean Dacey was able to score his first of three goals at the 5:23 mark of the quarter.

“There was nothing that I did differently than the other players on the team,” Dacey said. “On the first goal they had a late slide, and I took advantage of no defense being in my face.”

Towards the end of the first half, the Eagles were desperate to cut into the lead. Freshman Luke Dick delivered when the team really needed it, as he scored a goal with just six seconds left before halftime to cut the lead to 7-4. Though the goal was Dick’s only one of the game, he did finish with three assists as well.

“I think CNU just made better plays and were finishing their shots when they got the chance,” Dick said. “We had the same amount of shots as they did [in the second] quarter, but they were shooting a lot better. My goal came off a little lucky from a broken up pass and luck wasn’t something we were getting all game.”

The Eagles soared out of the gates firing in the second half as Dacey and senior attacker Mark Bowler scored back-to-back goals to trim the deficit to just one goal. They were the only two players to put the ball in the back of the net for UMW in the third quarter.

“On the second goal I heard one of their defensemen yell to the sidelines that they only had five on, instead of six, so when I got the ball I took advantage of being up numbers and just got a shot off quickly before we were all matched up,” Dacey said.

The fourth quarter depicted the entire game as both teams struck twice with CNU squeaking by with a one-point advantage. Both teams seemed to be evenly matched with the Eagles leading in shots, 32-31, and in ground balls, 16-14.

“I believe the main difference that gave them the one-point edge was their energy and heart,” Dick said. “We kind of came into the game thinking we were going to win pretty handedly. They just wanted the game more.”

Junior Ryan Montgomery provided a strong defensive presence contributing eight saves while relieving senior Ryan Kleman off the bench, who had one save.

The Eagles returned to action last night when they hosted Eastern University, but the game ended too late for the results to be included in this issue. UMW’s next game will be a Sunday matinee on March 13, when the College of Wooster travels to the Battlegrounds to take on the Eagles at 1 p.m.