ST. LOUIS – Despite trailing by as many as four at the start of the second half, the (RV) Missouri Baptist University men's lacrosse team mounted a furious comeback on Senior Day to defeat Midland University, 10-7. The Spartans outscored the visitors 8-2 in the third and fourth quarters and shut the Warriors down altogether in the final 15 minutes of play.
 
MBU has now won six of its last seven games while improving to 6-4 overall and 6-2 in the KCAC. Midland pushed early but dropped to 1-7, 1-7 KCAC. In Monday's matinee, the Spartans honored Noah Boone, Hunter Filla, Richie Graham, Alex Moore, Jake Neuner, Ian Olenski, Luke Slagle, Andrew Spillars, Alex Todd, and 2020 senior Blake Berry at halftime.
 
Midland, notably midfielder Savion Johnson, controlled the contest's early stages and jumped out to a 2-0 lead on the Spartans. It took MBU 10 minutes to find the back of the net with Jaxon Haas connecting on a pass from Luke Slagle. The two squads traded goals from Johnson and Haas again, with MBU narrowing the gap to one.
 
Unfortunately for the Spartans, it just wasn't their half, watching shots draw iron or sail just wide. Midland's Nick Crociata piled on two more goals before heading into halftime to put MBU at a 5-2 disadvantage.
 
Crociata started the second half with another goal and joined his teammate with a hat trick by the 10:06 mark in the third. That particular score pushed the MBU deficit to the largest of the game at 4. With work to be done and a new sense of urgency, Missouri Baptist's shots finally began to fall and at a rapid pace.
 
Including the Ian Olenski goal with 7:18 remaining in the third, the Spartans went on an 8-1 run to close out the game.  Alex Scott, Jaxon Haas, and seniors Alex Todd, Noah Boone, and Andrew Spillars joined in the second-half goal-scoring barrage.
 
Individually, Haas, Todd and Olenski combined for seven goals, and perhaps none was more significant than Olenski's game-winning goal in traffic with 4:58 remaining.
 
Goalie Hunter Filla gave up just two goals in the second half to put the Spartans in a great position to win. On Senior Day, the team captain recorded 16 saves. Other notable senior performances included one caused turnover apiece from Noah Boone and defenseman Richie Graham and six assists spread between seniors Alex Todd, Boone, Graham, and Slagle.
 
With two games against St. Ambrose and Morningside not being re-scheduled, the Spartans will now await their seeding and opponent for the upcoming Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship. As a likely top-four seed at 6-2 in the conference, MBU will host its quarterfinal matchup at Spartan Field on Saturday (April 17) at a time to be determined.