Knights take 22-6 Win over Men's Lacrosse Friday
IRVING, Texas – The University of Dallas men's lacrosse team dropped a 22-6 result on Friday to Calvin College. Dallas (2-7) matched its highest total in goals at home this spring, but the Knights (3-4) concluded their Texas road swing 1-1 by scoring at least four times per quarter.
NOTABLE STATISTICS
(Individual Notes)
-Tyler Smith (Snoqualmie, Wash.) delivered his first career hat trick with three goals and lifted him to second on the squad with eight on the campaign.
- Smith also won 12 faceoffs, which tied his second most. He has notched at least 10 faceoff wins four times this year. Smith claimed a team-high 10 groundballs.
- Peter Early (San Antonio, Texas) contributed a pair of goals to give the team leader in scoring a six-game streak. He also had an assist. Early's two shots were both on target for scores, and the second netter counted for the sophomore's 50th career point.
- Toby Zanini (Boston, Mass.) landed his first points on the season coming off a goal and assist. He was among four players to garner three groundballs.
- Christian Lopez (Las Vegas, Nev.) secured his 3rd highest save count with 22. It is also the 3rd time the freshman goalkeeper has surpassed 20.
- Chris Griffin was the Knights' leading scorer with six and also dished a game-high three assists to finish with nine points.
- Griffin Sparling followed with six points by firing four goals and passing a pair of helpers. Max Foster and Michael Winkler each added a hat trick with three goals apiece and an assist apiece.
(Team Notes)
- Dallas held a 22-1 difference in saves.
- Calvin won 20-out-of-32 chances in the faceoff circle. Both squads displayed a 50 percent (7-14) result in the third quarter.
- The Knights edged the home team in shots (63-11) and groundballs (46-29). The Crusaders committed 20 more turnovers (30-10).
- A perfect successful clear rating (28-28) also reflected the strong performance by the guests on the day.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Calvin tallied four goals in the opening 15 minutes to build a lead never relinquished. Griffin got the Knights on the board at 13:35. Six minutes past with the defenses keeping each side off the board. Sparling finally got one through on an assist from Foster. The next goal occurred a lot quicker, with less than a minute ticked by as Winkler tallied his first goal on an assist from Griffin. The leader of the game in points etched his third one on a goal with about 30 seconds before the first break.
In the next frame, Austin Bontreger joined the scoring column with nearly three minutes gone. Winkler assisted the team's fifth goal and that capped a stretch of five unanswered points. Early snapped the streak by keeping his alive at 8:18. Calvin responded with a quartet of goals within the last six minutes to capture an eight-goal (9-1) halftime lead.
Dallas started the second half with a Smith goal three minutes and 45 seconds through the action. Zanini garnered an assist for his first point of the year. The junior did not wait long to get another point with this counting as his first career collegiate goal. Jacob Tom (Waukesha, Wis.) dished the assist. The Crusaders had allowed a trio of scores to Calvin between so that cut the deficit back to nine at 12-3 with 6:52. A total of 13 goals combined occurred in the third, with the Knights boasting a 9-4 advantage.
Down 18-5 in the final stanza, Griffin had his sixth goal less than a minute in. Sparling had the assist and would later follow the Crusaders' score on back-to-back ones. His man-up goal at 10:33 gave him the team's 4th hat trick.
UD's Smith posted his career-high third goal in a match on an assist from Early to tie the team's highest amount at home this season at 12:39. The other was 12-6 setback in the home opener against Alma College. His goal at the time cut the deficit to 19-6, but the final three goals – two from Sparling – rounded out the final.
UP NEXT
Dallas celebrates Senior Day on Sunday versus Piedmont College at 1 p.m. Nicholas Baeza (San Antonio, Texas) and Tom will be recognized prior to the start.