COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Missouri Baptist University men's lacrosse team was dealt its third straight loss on Tuesday evening as the Spartans suffered a 13-8 setback at Columbia College. Tied at halftime and within two heading into the final period, the Spartans were shut out in the fourth quarter and unable to fend off the Cougars' late surge.
 
As has been the case with multiple losses this season, the Spartans did several things well in the defeat. One working example of that was sophomore midfielder Noah Campbell on faceoffs. Ranked No. 4 in the nation in faceoff winning percentage, Campbell won 76 percent of the faceoffs (19-of-25) against Columbia, and at the very least, helped the Spartans establish possession on the Cougars' end of the field.
 
Missouri Baptist outshot Columbia, 35-28, although the Cougars were extremely accurate with shots as 21 of their 28 were on target. Another area that the Spartans excelled in was extra-man opportunities. Afforded four opportunities with a man up, the Spartans found the back of the net three times, all of which came in the third quarter.
 
MBU struggled to find its footing early on in the contest as Columbia scored four of the game's first five goals. Sandwiched in between the Cougars' four goals was a goal from Jaxon Haas to get the Spartans on the scoreboard.
 
With less than 10 seconds remaining in the first, Addison Bryan scored his first career goal, assisted by Andy Coulter. The latter of the two, put on a clinic in the second quarter, registering a hat trick within a five-minute stretch. Coulter's three consecutive goals (7:27, 6:01, 3:07) were key in evening the score at 5-5 before heading into halftime.
 
In a game of runs, Columbia made its next move not long after the third period commenced. Columbia's Sam Crum scored his second and third goals of the game within 75 seconds of each other. The Cougars added two more goals to increase their lead back to four.
 
Following suit, Missouri Baptist cashed in on the CC penalties as Josh Zion scored a pair of EMO goals along with Sean Hess to slash the lead to just one as time was expiring in the third.
 
Unfortunately, Columbia halted the momentum in a big way by scoring with 17 seconds left in the third period. That eventually paved the way for another run by the Cougars with three more goals in the fourth. The Columbia defense also stepped up and held the Spartans scoreless on nine shots (4 SOG).
 
Andy Coulter led the way for MBU in points (5), goals (3), assists (2), shots (9) and shots on goal (5). Other leaders included Noah Campbell with 7 ground balls and Fisher Nuss with 2 caused turnovers. Nuss is currently averaging 2.33 caused turnovers per game, which is good for No. 2 in the NAIA.
 
Coming up next for the Spartans is a trip to Waleska, Ga. to take on No. 5-ranked Keiser University and No. 2-ranked Reinhardt University.