Continuing their up-and-down season, the Pioneer men’s lacrosse team split a pair of Great Western Lacrosse League games this past weekend on the road.
The Pioneers (7-6, 2-1 GWLL) opened their week of play with a hard-fought, two-goal win over the University of Bellarmine in Louisville, Ky. on Friday.
However, the victory didn’t generate much momentum for the Pioneers heading South Bend, Ind., on Saturday, as a poor second half led to an eight-goal loss to the University of Notre Dame, 14-6.
Despite only having won two games all season, the Knights of Bellarmine got on the board early in Friday’s game, with a goal only 50 seconds into the first quarter.
Not to be outdone, the Pioneers fired back with four straight goals. First, sophomore midfielder Brad Richardson netted an unassisted goal with 8:43 left in the first. Then, freshman Ilija Gajic, senior Ryan Shaughnessy and junior John Paulson each found the back of the net, giving the Pioneers a 4-1 lead.
The Pioneers looked to be taking control of the game heading into half-time when BU scored two quick goals in the last 1:46 of the second quarter to cut the Pioneer lead to one goal as the teams went into intermission.
Just as in the first half, BU came out firing. The Knights netted their fourth goal of the game only 1:56 into the third quarter, tying the game at four a piece.
The Pioneers and Knights then traded goals, before DU rattled off three straight to take a commanding lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Bellarmine cut the lead to two goals before Shaughnessy netted his second goal of the game only one minute later to put the Pioneers up 9-6.
Holding on in the final minutes, the Pioneers finished the rollercoaster game with a 9-7 victory and stayed undefeated in conference play at 2-0. Pioneers goaltender Jeb Hollingsworth made 13 saves to earn the victory for the Pioneers.
In Sunday’s action, it looked as though the Pioneers were going to be caught in another shootout in the first half.
After the Fighting Irish got on the board early, the Pioneers responded with three straight goals, putting themselves up 3-1 with 4:38 to play in the first quarter.
The Pioneers then gave up a pair of goals to UND, ultimately finishing the first half with a 5-5 tie.
Unfortunately for the Pioneers, the second half was owned by the Irish. UND dominated play from the opening face-off until the last buzzer sounded, outscoring DU 9-1, while out-shooting the Pioneers 22-9.
Pioneer sophomore midfielder Joey Murray led the Pioneers with three points in the game on two goals and one assist.
The loss dropped the Pioneers out of a first-place tie atop the GWLL.
The Pioneers are next in action when they play host to the Ohio State University on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. MT at Peter Barton Stadium.
