By Joshua J. Darling, Sports Information Director
LAGRANGE, Ga. – Sophomore attackman Ryan Comeau (Canton, Ga.) exploded for 12 points, LaGrange (3-3, 0-0 USA South) set a program record for goals in a game and senior FOGO Jacob Jeffords (Marietta, Ga.) tied an NCAA faceoff mark in a 30-8 victory over Centenary (0-4, 0-0 HCLC) in a Division III men's lacrosse game on Sunday, February 26.
Jeffords delivered a record performance at the center "X", going an incredible 36-of-42 to equal the NCAA Division III single game faceoff win mark. That performance tied Southwestern's (Texas) Hudson Bearden (4/11/21) and UMass Boston's Jack Dobszynski (4/22/21) for the most faceoff wins since the NCAA began tracking lacrosse records in 1971.
The 30 goals, the last scored by sophomore midfielder Holden Samuels (Woodstock, Ga.), would best the 29 that the 2022 squad put up on Point (29-5) on March 16. It is also the second most in Division III so far this season the third most across all three divisions. DIII's Washington and Jefferson scored 35 in a game while DII's Anderson (S.C.) put up 32.
Jeffords wasted no time as he won the opening faceoff and then proceeded to race down field and drill a ball past the keeper for an early 1-0 lead just 11 seconds in. The teams would then trade the next two goals as Dominic Ogier connected for the Gents at the 11:38 mark and Comeau delivered a man-up goal just over a minute later.
The latter, however, was the start of a massive five goal streak that included scores by junior attackman Michael Poteete (Evans, Ga.), freshman attackman Luke Young (Acworth, Ga.), another by Comeau and a goal and pair of assists by senior midfielder Ben Bryan (Carrollton, Ga.). That surge put the Panthers up 6-2 by the 4:05 mark of the first before Centenary's G'Colby Spivey put one in 30 seconds later.
From there, all thoughts of a comeback would be squelched as LaGrange erupted for 12 of the next 13 goals as Comeau led the charge with another score and two assists and Jeffords found the back of the net for a second time. That stretch came with a minute left in the first half and ballooned the lead to 18-4 before the Gents keeper Alex Nicks-Davis put one home from distance with 14 seconds on the clock.
Centenary would pick up momentum from that score as they entered the second half, scoring three of the first five goals to cut it to 20-8 by the 5:13 mark but would have no answer for the onslaught they were about to face. Over the next 7:24 the Panthers pelted the Gents for six straight goals, two of them from Comeau and another from Jeffords, to extend to a 26-8 lead with 12:49 remaining. They would then go on to add four more scores to surpass the program's single game goals record.
Spivey led the Gents with three goals while five others had one goal apiece and Seven Davillier picked up three groundballs. One of those one-goal efforts came from an unexpected source in Nicks-Davis from his goalkeeper position, where he allowed 23 goals against nine saves to fall to 0-4.
For the Panthers, Comeau delivered the best game of his career, and one of the best in program history, as he powered home eight goals and added four assists for 12 points and Jeffords scored three while picking up an incredible 24 groundballs.
Ben Bryan put up four goals and a pair of assists and sophomore attackman Andrew Brown (Metairie, La.) had three scores and two assists. Freshman attackman Aiden Psalmonds (Brookhaven, Ga.) and Poteete each registered three goals to round out the top offensive performers.
Senior goalie Joshua Hargrove (Norcross, Ga.) started and played the first half, making three saves and allowing five goals to pick up the win and move to 1-0 while sophomore keeper Hunter Ransom (Cumming, Ga.) played a scoreless fourth quarter, making three saves.
UP NEXT
The Panthers are now off until Saturday, March 11 when they head to Nashville, Tennessee for the first of two games. That day they will take on Carroll (Wisc.) at 12 p.m. before taking on Capital at 3 p.m. on Sunday, March 12.
