KNOXVILLE, Ten. — The Missouri Baptist University men's lacrosse team faced two difficult battles at the Sixth Annual Knights Cup Lacrosse Tournament this past weekend (Feb. 9-10) against Keiser University (1) and Tennessee Wesleyan University.
Although both contests ended with losses, the Spartans had moments of excellence that shined through on attack, defense, and in cage, showing the potential for the rest of the season ahead.
Keiser University def. Missouri Baptist 11-3.
In their season opener (Feb. 9) against the number one team in the nation, MBU fell short despite Ashton Scott's impeccable performance in goal.
Scott and the MBU defense prevented KU from getting on the board for the first 12 minutes of the match. In total, Scott made 14 saves throughout the game, recording most of them in the first quarter.
The Spartan d-unit looked clean with their slides to ball and seemed to be communicating effectively in the first quarter as well. Upperclassmen players including Tanner Whittemore, who picked up two ground balls, and Daniel Heinrich (1 GB), played big roles in attempting to clear the ball into the opponent's end of the field.
Throughout the game, Missouri Baptist struggled with their transition play. Midfielders Connor Hickman (2 GBs) and Liam Prindable (1 GB) fought hard to get the ball into the attacking zone, but KU proved to be a defensive force. In Keiser's transition from defense to attack, Prindable was able to intercept a pass from KU during the first quarter.
At the end of the quarter, the score only read 1-0 (Keiser) despite the live play staying in MBU's territory for the majority of the time. The second quarter played out in a similar way. MBU's defense stayed busy, but KU was able to sneak in three more goals before the end of the second quarter.
In the third quarter, MBU finally managed to put the ball in the back of the net after Keiser scored another goal. Sophomore Dylan Forbeck assisted classmate Brock Plies in getting a point on the board. Plies buried the ball low, bringing a burst of energy to the rest of the team.
Transfer Reece Dotterer (1 GB) scored off of another assist from Forbeck soon after Plies, making the score 5-2.
The rest of the third and the fourth quarters got away from the Spartans. Keiser scored six more goals before attack man Joe Busselman scored on a man-up opportunity in the last minute and thirty seconds of the game.
Tennessee Wesleyan def. Missouri Baptist
The Spartans came out strong in their second and final game of the Sixth Annual Knights Cup Lacrosse Tournament.
Pleis stepped up and scored the first goal of the game within three minutes of the initial face-off.
Sophomore Drew Chiodini scored next, and Dotterer followed. Dotterer's goal was assisted by Forbeck, who also recored three ground balls throughout the match.
Scott (9 SV) and MBU's defense shut out Tennessee Wesleyan for a total of 8 minutes and 57 seconds. After their first goal, TWU was able to score two more before the end of the first quarter, tying up the game.
Going into the second quarter, the Bulldogs scored another, but Chiodini responded by driving the ball to cage for his second unassisted goal of the game.
After this, TWU went on an 11-goal streak despite MBU's efforts on defense and attack until Chiodini scored a third goal to bring the score to 15-5.
TWU dominated offensively, but Chiodini proved to be a great asset on the Spartan attack line, recording a fourth goal in the last minute of the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Pleis recorded two more goals for a hat trick, but TWU did not slow down.
The tournament proved to be challenging, but the Spartans battled until the very end of each contest.
