ST. LOUIS – Missouri Baptist men's lacrosse finally found some offensive rhythm in the second half of Friday's contest, but it came too late as the Spartans dropped their sixth straight game with an 18-11 loss to No. 5-ranked University of the Cumberlands.
 
The Patriots set the tone early scoring right after the opening faceoff on a Dylan Crouch goal just nine seconds in. Over the next two minutes, the visitors from Williamsburg, Ky., scored two more goals to go up 3-0 before the Spartans got on the board.
 
Sean Hess registered MBU's first goal of the game at the 10:24 mark in the first period. He went on to score the next goal for the Spartans and cut UC's lead to 4-2 heading into the second quarter.
 
Unfortunately for the Spartans, Cumberlands went on a rampage in the second period and outscored them, 8-1. That turned out to be the difference maker in a contest that was ultimately decided by seven goals. Josh Zion scored his 13^th goal of the season in the second, but the Spartans still had plenty of work to do after the break.
 
Some form of hope was restored following a strong third quarter. Zion scored again to go along with goals from Luke Slagle, Andy Coulter and Noah Boone. Boone's goal at the 3:25 mark narrowed the lead to 6 and represented the sophomore's first goal of 2019.
 
Any momentum from outscoring the NAIA's fifth-ranked team in the third quarter went out the window once the Patriots scored five of the next six goals. Cumberlands' lead reached double digits with a Whitten McCune man-up goal with under five minutes to go.
 
With 1:10 remaining in the game and trailing by 10, Missouri Baptist began its last-ditch effort to score. Sean Hess recorded a hat trick with his third goal of the game, while Noah Campbell and Noah Boone scored two more in a 42-second window.
 
Joining Hess with multi-goal games were Josh Zion (2) and Noah Boone (2).
 
Defensively, Missouri Baptist caused more turnovers than the Patriots, but weren't close in the category of ground balls (UC – 47, MBU – 32). Sophomore Fisher Nuss had a team-high 3 caused turnovers and also came up with 5 ground balls.