Montreat Uses Mid-Game Run to Defeat Koala Men's Lacrosse
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Montreat (NC) (5-9, 2-6) | 5 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 21 |
|
Columbia (SC) (2-12, 0-8) | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 5 |
COLUMBIA, S.C. - The Columbia College inaugural men's lacrosse team put up a valiant effort at home Wednesday evening, but a fast start faded away as conference rival Montreat College (NC) pulled away midway through the game for the 21-5 win.
A highly competitive opening quarter saw the two teams combine for 9 goals as Columbia took the early 1-0 lead on a goal from freshman Kaelan Robinson. MC then scored three straight goals to lead 3-1 at the 7:30 mark of the first quarter before CC got to within 3-2 on freshman midfielder Noah Norwood's goal at the 6-minute mark.
The two schools would then trade two goals apiece for the remainder of the period as freshman attacker Landon Flenniken scored unassisted at the 4-minute mark to help CC get to within 4-3. After the 5th Montreat goal, the Koalas had the ball with 10 seconds to play and freshman attacker Gavin Gordon fired a shot at the buzzer from near midfield and bounced it in for a thrilling Koala goal as CC trailed 5-4 after one.
Unfortunately, Montreat then found their offensive rhythm scoring 7 goals in the second period to take a 12-4 lead into the break. The third quarter then saw the Cavaliers score five more goals before G. Gordon scored his second of the game with two minutes to play in the period off an assist from sophomore defender Peyton Brand as CC trailed 17-5. The Koalas offense struggled to get the ball past MC goalie Jay Chance as he made 14 saves on 19 shots throughout the game. Norwood led in shots with nine while Gordon managed seven.
Freshman goalie Joey Stubenvoll made 11 saves on 23 shots on goal for the Koalas in his 30 minutes of first half action while fellow goalie, Joshua Nguyen, then made six saves on 15 shots on goal in his 30 minutes of second half action. Leading in ground balls was freshman faceoff specialist Kai Correia with 10 while winning 18 faceoffs overall. Flenniken also recorded five ground balls while JC Beacham picked up four and caused a turnover.
Columbia falls to 2-12 overall and 0-8 in the conference while Montreat improved to 5-9 and 2-6 in the AAC. Columbia will finish out their season on Saturday when they host the Univ. of the Cumberlands (Ky.) in their final conference game at 1:00 pm.