Crusaders match Season-High 8 Goals: Slow Start too Much at Johnson & Wales (CO)
AURORA, Colo. – The University of Dallas men's lacrosse team dropped a 12-8 decision on the road at Johnson & Wales University – Denver on Good Friday. The Crusaders (2-10) outscored Johnson & Wales (2-8) by a goal, 8-7, in the last three quarters. A 5-0 difference in the opening stanza proved to be too big a hole for UD to overcome.
NOTABLE STATISTICS
(Individual Notes)
- A trio of players notched two goals for Dallas. This included: Nicholas Baeza (San Antonio, Texas), Peter Early (San Antonio, Texas), and Tyler Smith (Snoqualmie, Wash.)
- Early and Smith are respectively the team's top two scorers with 19 and 15 goals. Early surpassed last season's goal total by one.
- Baeza netted his first goals of the campaign.
- Bogar Trout III (Tecumseh, Mich.) tied a team-high three points with a goal and two assists. Early was the other player with three points as he added an assist to match Ben Blessard (Falls Church, Va.) with a team-high.
- Trout III and Charles Buxton (Stonington, Conn.) each posted three groundballs.
- Christian Lopez (Las Vegas, Nev.) nabbed 11 saves in a complete 60-minute game.
- The Wildcats were led offensively by Gage Blottenberger with six goals. Coleton Threlkeld secured a quartet of goals to give the tandem a combined 10 goals.
- Evan Longinott made eight saves against 16 shots faced in a complete game between the pipes.
- Deshaunte Longley collected a game-high nine groundballs.
(Team Notes)
- Johnson & Wales held a 34-27 advantage in shots. This was highly due to a 14-1 difference favoring the home team in the first 15 minutes.
- Dallas scored five goals on man-up situations. JWU had 17 penalties overall.
- The Wildcats benefitted from 19 faceoff wins in 22 opportunities.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The first half was the difference in this match. Johnson & Wales produced five goals in each 15-minute frame and would lead 10-3 at the break. The Crusaders held a 5-2 scoring advantage in the second half as the defense kept JWU out of the cage for 15:08 minutes. Dallas tied a quarter-best three goals in the final stanza, but it was not enough to overcome the margin.
Threlkeld scored on an assist from Blottenberger to break the scoreless game four and a half mintues into play. About 30 seconds later, Blottenberger was assisting the first of an eventual hat trick in a row. Shane Sapak assisted that second quick goal for the squad. Threlkeld was securing his second goal to conclude the 5-0 lead in the first with Johnny Blottenberger delivering the assist on that play.
Josh Williamson and Longley scored their only goals to start the second and build a 7-0 edge early in the second. Baeza got the Crusaders on the board with consecutive man-up goals. Early assisted the first goal. Trout III, who has all four of his assists on the spring in three-of-four contests, was able to pick up his first one of this match on the team's third and final goal of the half on a goal by Early.
Early was the first scorer on either side in the third quarter to get on the board a 10:43. The next goal was by Blessard with a minute and a half before the buzzer. The Wildcats managed a pair of goals between that time and the horn to conclude that frame. Smith fired the first and last goal of UD's fourth quarter. Trout III had the middle goal in between. Toby Zanini (Boston, Mass.) assisted Smith's first goal. It took the Crusaders nearly 10 minutes to break into the scoring column, but Dallas did so quickly to muster a comeback. Smith's final goal of the match tied Dallas with its season-high in goals. Unlike the previous two games that were wins, a slow start placed the Crusaders too far behind.
UP NEXT
Dallas wraps up the regular season on Saturday at Colorado College. Start time is slated for 1 p.m. (MST).