Buena Vista, VA - The Southern Virginia men's lacrosse team competed twice in just under 24 hours at Knights Stadium this weekend, splitting their matchups with a loss to Colorado College but an important win against USA South opponent LaGrange College on Saturday.
Game 1: VS Colorado College
Southern Virginia played host to the Tigers of Colorado College in their final non-conference game of the season. It was the first game for the Tigers on their brief east coast swing that will see them visit Christopher Newport on Sunday. The Tigers jumped on the Knights early and won by a score of 20-10.
The first half came down to a matter of capitalizing on scoring chances with regularity. The Knights found themselves in a big early deficit as the Tigers rattled off the first six goals of the game. Clay Haacke finally got the Knights on the board but Colorado College would score twice more to give the Tigers an 8-1 lead heading into the second quarter. Jayden Arnold performed admirably in face offs during the first frame, going 4-8 while Bosten Schilleman went 1-1, giving their team several opportunities to remain within striking distance.
The second quarter was similar to the first. The Knights had their chances, but the Tigers made the most of theirs by scoring three times on the man advantage and scooping up 18 ground balls compared to Southern Virginia's 5. Jace Lightfoot stepped up his play by making 6 of his 14 total saves in the quarter. By the end of the half, the Knights had a massive hill to climb and trailed by eleven.
Zak Sullivan got things rolling in the right direction by scoring just six seconds into the third quarter. They went back and forth with the Tigers by having five different Knights find the back of the net. By the time the middle of the fourth quarter came around, scoring had stalled on both sides. Porter Wells scored two more in the final quarter to continue his scoring barrage over the last month, he now has 18 goals in his last six outings. Tyson Mauri also continued his steady play by adding a goal and three assists, his 32 assists this season leads the team in that category. While Southern Virginia was able to finish strong, it wasn't enough to overcome the Tigers quick start.
Game 2: VS LaGrange College
Following their loss to Colorado College, the Knights got back to business and put together another conference victory to keep pace with the teams at the top of the USA South standings. They used an early push to dispatch LaGrange College by a score of 17-12 and put an exclamation point on senior day.
Gabe King and Clay Haacke were causing trouble for the Panthers from the get go. They combined for five goals, allowing Southern Virginia to jump out to an early first quarter lead of 6-1. The team was quick to pull the trigger in the opening stages, ultimately firing 21 shots towards the goal in the first fifteen minutes, they also dominated in face offs thanks to the play of senior, Jaydon Arnold.
In the second quarter, JT Cutrer made sure the Panthers didn't close the deficit by tallying two of his career high 5 goals in the game. While the early spree gave Southern Virginia a sizable lead, they were unable to shake LaGrange the rest of the way. The Panthers eventually found their scoring touch and managed to cut the lead down to two goals multiple times during the third quarter. Porter Wells provided a much needed boost down the stretch, scoring two consecutive goals for his team to help them keep a three goal lead heading into the fourth.
From them on it was shut down defense that led the Knights to victory. Jaydon Arnold won the first two face offs of the quarter to get Southern Virginia off and running. Clay Haacke bid thanks to Arnold by scoring off of a pass from Tyson Mauri. LaGrange responded less than a minute later, but on the ensuing possession, Isaac Finley picked up a ground ball that allowed JT Cutrer to find the back of the net, spurring a 3-1 scoring run the rest of the way to secure an important victory, 17-12.
Michael Brown grabbed six ground balls and caused one turnover in his final regular season game at Knights Stadium. Another senior, Jaydon Arnold also performed well and finished over .500 in face offs, winning 15 of them to lead both teams in that category. The win puts the Knights at a 5-2 record in conference play, their only two losses coming against the top two teams in the standings. Next week they'll look to give themselves a chance to hop into 3rd place in the standings when they take Huntingdon College on their home field. That contest is scheduled for Saturday, April 27th at 3:00 PM.
For the most up-to-date details and information on the team, follow @knight_mlax and visit knightathletics.com for live stats and streaming options.
