By Joshua J. Darling, Sports Information Director
LAGRANGE, Ga. – Sophomore attackman Ryan Comeau (Canton, Ga.) exploded for five goals as LaGrange (1-0, 0-0 USA South) delivered a 17-7 season-opening victory over NAIA member Point (0-2, 0-0 AAC) in an NCAA Division III men's lacrosse game on Wednesday, February 8.
The Panthers would waste no time getting on the board as it took just 32 seconds for junior attackman Michael Poteete (Evans, Ga.) to find the back of the net for a 1-0 lead. The Skyhawks would recover from that initial shock and settle in defensively but that would only last until the 5:33 mark when freshman attackman Luke Young (Acworth, Ga.) rifled one home.
Point would respond with a score from Malyke Sillers with just over four minutes remaining in the opening period but the defense would prove to still be vulnerable. They would find themselves on the wrong end of two rapid fire goals, the first by sophomore attackman Andrew Brown (Metairie, La.) at 3:49 and the next with Brown setting up Comeau 26 seconds later.
Brown would then stretch the lead to 5-1 by the end of the opening period as he drove home a man-up goal off a pass from senior midfielder Ben Bryan (Carrollton, Ga.) at the 45 second mark.
Point would get on the board at the start of the second as Jamison Cross connected at 11:28 only to see it matched as Young connected with Comeau to make it 6-2 at 7:36. Just under two minutes later Sillers found Jeff Knapp at 5:50 and Young answered back 24 seconds later to push to a 7-3 advantage. Just when the Skyhawks thought that they were safely into the half Young had one more surprise as he rifled one home with just two seconds on the clock.
The Panthers would quickly expand that margin in the opening minutes of the third as Brown found Comeau at 13:02 and senior midfielder Klein Woods (Macon, Ga.) picked up the assist on a Bryan goal 23 seconds later to make it 10-3. From there the clubs traded the next four goals, ending up with a 12-5 margin heading to the fourth.
LaGrange would notch a pair of goals within seconds of each other at 11:14 and 11:01 to push to put it firmly out of reach at a nine-goal spread and outscored Point 5-2 in the period to close out the commanding 17-7 victory.
Knapp led the way for the Skyhawks with four goals on a whopping 22 shots, 13 on frame, while Sillers notched a score and an assist. Cross and McLaughin accounted for the only other scoring and Kiereek McLeod played all 60 minutes in goal, allowing 17 scores against 15 saves.
Comeau dominated the offensive action for the Panthers, finishing with a game-high five goals to go with three ground balls and Brown had two goals, four assists and four pickups. The four assists tie the program record set by Bryan against Johnson & Wales (Denver) on March 5, 2020.
Bryan delivered a strong all-around effort with three goals, an assist, two caused turnovers and a pair of groundballs and Young came away with three scores and a pair of assists. Poteete rounded out the offense with a pair of goals and had two groundballs for good measure.
Senior faceoff specialist Jacob Jeffords (Marietta, Ga.) controlled the center "X", winning 17-of-25 and collecting seven groundballs, and senior goalie Isaac Bohrer (Fayetteville, Ga.) played 45 minutes in net, making 12 saves and allowing just five goals to pick up the win and move to 1-0. Sophomore keeper Hunter Ransom (Cumming, Ga.) closed out the game with a pair of saves and two goals allowed in 15 minutes of action.
UP NEXT
The Panthers jump right back into the fray as they travel to Hendrix on Saturday, February 11. Opening faceoff is slated for 1 p.m. EST in Conway, Arkansas.
