Men's Lacrosse gets Tuesday Night Win at Dallas Baptist
DALLAS – The University of Dallas men's lacrosse team ended a three-game losing streak on Tuesday by tying a season-high in goals to prevail 8-5 at Dallas Baptist University. The Crusaders (2-3) used a four-goal quarter in the 3rd to pull away and remained undefeated with their fourth head-to-head meetings with the Patriots (2-3).
NOTABLE STATISTICS
(Individual Notes)
- Peter Early (San Antonio, Texas) garnered his second straight hat trick and boasted a season-high four goals. He now has nine on the year and gained the team lead.
- Ben Blessard (Falls Church, Va.) and Andrew Jones (Austin, Texas) rounded out the UD scoring with two apiece. Blessard added an assist.
- Tyler Smith (Snoqualmie, Wash.) posted a pair of assists to complete Dallas' three. The leading faceoff specialist went 12-of-15 in the faceoff circle.
- Jonah Torres-Swanson (Austin, Texas) collected a season-high nine groundballs.
- Christian Lopez (Las Vegas, Nev.) stopped 14 saves against 19 faced.
- Two players for the Patriots had a pair of goals. Luke Berry tallied seven shots and Mauricio Ayala posted six. They combined for seven groundballs with Berry making four.
- Corbin Wynn rounded out the scoring for the home team and added a helper. He also had team-highs in groundballs (7), and caused turnovers (3).
(Team Notes)
- Dallas was outshot 39-22, but executed with eight-of-15 shots on cage finding the back of the netting. The Patriots posted 19 on target but only made five.
- Dallas Baptist edged the Crusaders in groundballs 39-34 and committed fewer turnovers 35-26.
- UD was 19-for-35 in clears compared to the Patriots' only failing seven times (33-40).
- The Crusaders did win the majority of faceoffs with 13-out-of-17 chances.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Crusaders got off on the right foot with Early scoring 40 seconds into the match with Smith feeding him inside on an assist. DBU responded with two goals and claimed its only lead of the night over the course of the period. Berry evened the game at 11:16 and then five minutes later Wynn dialed a netter from Orlando Hernandez to lift his team up 2-1.
Early and Smith teamed up again to close the quarter, this time with less than a minute before the buzzer to make it 2-2. Both squads did not produce much offense over the next 15 minutes as the halftime score reflected 3-all. Early did manage a hat trick with the first three goals on UD's side of the board. He scored at 10:11 with Blessard assisting. Berry scored an equalizer with about seven to go.
Last time these programs met at Patriots Field in 2016, the score at intermission was identical. In that match, the Crusaders used a six-goal third quarter to close the game on an 8-3 run and win. On Tuesday, it was similarly done except a few less goals. UD did rattle off four unanswered to take command. Blessard pounded back-to-back goals in the early going, and Early scored with 5:40 remaining. A man-up goal by Jones capped the run a little past a minute later.
The Patriots countered with Ayala taking a pass from Wynn and scoring at 3:55 to end the spurt. In the final stanza, Jones scored for his 3rd multi-scoring match of the year and DBU only was able to respond with a late goal that made it a difference of three.
UPCOMING SCHEDULE
Dallas will enjoy a nice home stretch as the calendar flips to March. Four-of-five games during that month are at the friendly confines. Things start on Mar. 6 versus SUNY Oneonta at 3 p.m. The Crusaders will also play next week on Mar. 9 against University of Northwestern (MN) at 3:30 p.m.