ST. LOUIS—[BOX SCORE] (RV) Missouri Baptist Men's Lacrosse played on their home field for the first time in nearly a month on Saturday and came away with a 7-4 victory over No. 9 Ottawa University (Kan.).
The Spartans knew they were in for challenge with the No. 9 ranked Braves, who entered Saturday on a four-match winning streak. It was the navy and white, however, that drew first blood. Dan Mollet returned from a two-game absence and made his presence felt when he sniped the top corner off a pass from Andy Coulter at 8:32. The senior's seventh goal of the year made it 1-0.
The Braves tied it at one before Josh Zion's fifth goal of the season returned the lead to MBU. Ottawa then rattled off two in the second quarter and held the Spartans off the board to take a 3-2 lead into the half.
Missouri Baptist controlled the game after the break. Sean Hess tied the game at 11:09 of the third quarter and Matt Onken gave the Spartans the lead less than three minutes later. Ottawa scored a late marker before the end of the third to even it again but Austin Dahl netted the eventual game-winner 45 seconds into the final quarter.
With six minutes left, Sean Hess registered his second of the game to give the Spartans some much needed breathing room. The freshman then completed the hat trick with 90 seconds left to seal the match for MBU.
The Spartans outshot Ottawa 27-22 in the match and more than doubled up the visitors in ground balls (29-14). Robert Ates made seven saves in goal for the Spartans to earn his fifth win of the season.
Missouri Baptist will return to action for Senior Day, next Friday, April 7, against Robert Morris (Ill.). First faceoff at Spartan Field is 3pm.