BELMONT, N.C. (March 29) – After falling into a first-half deficit on Saturday afternoon, the University of Mount Olive men's lacrosse program was unable to close the gap in a 13-6 loss at Belmont Abbey in Conference Carolinas action.
With the loss, the Trojans drop to 4-6 overall behind a 3-2 mark in league play. Mount Olive has two contests remaining on its regular season schedule, including a home matchup next week against Chowan on Wednesday, April 2. Meanwhile, the Crusaders improve to 7-2 this season with a 3-0 record in conference action.
Graduate student
Bubba Bowen led the offense with his second hat trick of the season and junior
Hudson Karasek registered two goals. Freshman
Brayden Rieger tallied one goal and one assist, while junior
Benjamin Vanderkley recorded a two-point performance with a pair of assists.
Belmont Abbey scored the opening goal of the contest at the 13:47 mark of the first before eventually building the lead to 3-0 in the closing minutes of the quarter. UMO capitalized on a man-up opportunity in the final two minutes, as Bowen netted a goal off an assist by Rieger. The Crusaders managed another goal with just six seconds left on the clock to hold a 4-1 edge. Mount Olive cut the deficit to 4-2 at the 11:52 mark of the second quarter with Rieger scoring off an assist by junior
Micaiah Boyle. Belmont Abbey regrouped and rattled the back of the cage five consecutive times to build a seven-goal advantage. UMO scored the final goal of the half with Bowen recording his second goal of the game on a man-up opportunity, 9-3.
Mount Olive outscored the Crusaders in the third quarter by a 3-2 margin with Karasek netting a pair while Bowen finished his hat-trick. The Trojans trailed 11-6 entering the final quarter of play and were ultimately held scoreless in the final 15 minutes to fall by a 13-6 margin.
Junior goalkeeper
Kurtis Lensing collected double-digit stops for a fifth straight match with 11 saves against the Crusaders. Redshirt senior
Josh Mauer won 8-of-15 faceoffs while junior
Nicolas Logue finished six-of-seven on faceoffs.
Belmont Abbey finished with a 45-34 shot advantage while UMO won 14-of-22 faceoffs.
UMO returns to Ray McDonald Sr. Sports Complex on Wednesday, April 2, for a conference matchup versus Chowan at 4 p.m.
