By Joshua J. Darling, Sports Information Director
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Three players would account for 10 goals as LaGrange (4-3, 0-0 USA South) showed very little rust after a two-week layoff as they dominated Carroll (1-4, 0-0 CCIW) by a 15-5 score in an NCAA Division III men's lacrosse game on Saturday, March 11.
The Pioneers would get on the board first as Josh Kovach put one home just 37 seconds in but that would essentially be the extent of any success on the offensive end. Sophomore attackman Ryan Comeau (Canton, Ga.) barrelled home a man-up goal at the 10:38 mark and then found sophomore attackman Andrew Brown (Metairie, La.) for the go-ahead score with 2:12 left in the opening frame.
Freshman attackman Luke Young (Acworth, Ga.) would add to that margin with nine seconds on the clock as he rounded the corner and drilled one to the back of the net for a 3-1 lead at the quarter break. It would be rinse and repeat for Young to start the second as he notched his second straight, this time with just 1:33 gone by.
He would remain a focal point of the offense as he became the distributor, finding senior midfielder Ben Bryan (Carrollton, Ga.) to make it 5-1 by the 4:28 mark. Freshman attackman Aiden Psalmonds (Brookhaven, Ga.) would then be the beneficiary of a late timeout as junior attackman Michael Poteete (Evans, Ga.) came out of the break and found him in front of the net with six seconds showing to make it 6-1 at the half.
It would get no better for Carroll as the Panthers equaled their first half total in just the third period, driving home six goals to just two allowed to extend to a commanding 12-3 lead. That stretch would see three different scorers as Brown hit paydirt three times and Comeau twice to put the game out of reach.
They would put the finishing touches on it early on in the fourth as Poteete found Young just 30 seconds in and Ben Bryan tacked on five minutes later. The Pioneers would then find the most success they had had on the offensive end as Jake Kopocis connected with Ethan Phillips at 6:20 and Kovach took it himself 19 seconds latter.
That cut it to 14-5 but senior midfielder Klein Woods (Macon, Ga.) hammered home the final nail with a goal at 4:40. From there the defense finished off the 10-goal victory.
Kovach paced Carroll with a pair of goals and two groundballs while Spencer Lautner scored and had seven groundballs. They were joined by Roman Stanley with a goal and three groundballs and Phillips with a score. Jake Gehl played all 60 minutes in net, allowing all 15 goals against 23 saves to fall to 1-4 on the year.
Brown drove home a game-high four scores and Comeau delivered three goals, an assist and five groundballs to lead LaGrange. Young added three scores and an assist with four pickups and Bryan scored two and Poteete had a pair of assists. Senior FOGO Jacob Jeffords (Marietta, Ga.) set up the offense with 14 faceoff wins in 23 opportunities and snagged 10 groundballs and senior goalkeeper Isaac Bohrer (Fayetteville, Ga.) made 11 saves and allowed just five scores to improve to 4-3.
UP NEXT
The Panthers are now off until Sunday, March 12 when they take on Capital in Nashville. Game time is set for 4 p.m. at Montgomery Bell Academy.
