OTTAWA, Kan. – The Missouri Baptist University men's lacrosse team was unable open up Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) play with a victory, falling on the road to (RV) Ottawa University (Kan.), 17-6. The Spartans scored three goals in each half, but it wasn't enough to offset the Braves' offensive fireworks.
 
Heading into Saturday's contest with the Spartans holding a slight 3-2 advantage in the series history, Ottawa brought the all-time record and its 2023 record to 3-3. On the flip side, MBU (1-5, 0-1 KCAC) dropped its fifth game in a row after opening the year with an 11-2 win at Clarke University.

Ottawa opened the scoring putting three on the board in the first seven minutes of the first quarter. It wasn't until the 6:16 mark that the Spartans scored their first goal. Sophomore Caleb Tant notched his second goal of the season with an assist credited to attackman Brock Pleis. In the final minute of the opening period, Pleis, a Lake St. Louis freshman, took his first shot of the game and successfully put it in the back of the net to give MBU its second goal. The quarter ended 6-2 in favor of the Braves.

The OU attack responded scoring the first four goals of the second quarter. The Spartans tacked on just one more goal in the second period. Trailing by eight, senior Ryan Hicks pulled through for the Spartans with 4:20 remaining in the first half. The Fulsom, Calif. native ran the ball from the 40-yard line blowing past multiple OU defenders tossing the ball going bottom left corner for the goal.
 
Into the third, Hicks recorded another sprinting goal and his fourth of the season. In the last three seconds of the third, fellow Californian Dylan Forbeck notched a goal to help the Spartans pull even with the Braves in a 2-2 third quarter. Nonetheless, Ottawa still took a substantial 12-5 lead into the final period.
 
The MBU attack was lacking in the fourth as it only scored once to Ottawa's five. The Spartans' lone goal in the fourth quarter came from defenseman Tanner Whittemore. With a longpole, the Reinhardt University transfer scored his first goal as a Spartan and just the second of his career as a defenseman.
 
Goalie Ashton Scott played all 60 minutes in between the pipes making 10 saves on the day.
 
Missouri Baptist Men's Lacrosse will be back in action on Tuesday, March 28 as it travels to Marshall, Mo. to play Missouri Valley College (1-7, 0-1 HEART). The game, originally scheduled for March 18, is set for 6 p.m.