Macon, Ga. – Down south, the Colonials lost against the Mercer Bears, 9-8. RMU men's lacrosse is now 4-5 overall and 1-3 in the ASUN conference. The Bears are 4-7 overall and 3-2 in conference play.
MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
The Bears got off to a strong start against the Colonials, as they took a 2-0 lead in the first quarter. RMU came back strong and scored two before the period ended.
Taggart Clark got the Colonials on the board and then assisted
Liam Keane for his seventh goal of the season. After one, the game was tied 2-2.
The defense was on display for RMU as
Kyle Reihner in goal continued to make saves. With fifth-year defenseman
Owen Down back in the lineup, the Colonials only gave up only one goal in the second quarter, and scored two more to take a 4-3 lead after 30 minutes of play.
Ben Starkey scored for a second game in a row and
Nick Pelletier knotted his seventh of the season.
In the second half, the action went back and forth. The Bears tied it up on the man-advantage. A minute later,
Liam Keane popped in his second of the game off a beautiful pass by
Colton Lidstone. With five minutes remaining in the third, Starkey set up
Matt Duncan for his second goal of the 2023 campaign. The Colonials held a 6-4 lead which was the largest margin of being ahead in the game. Before the quarter ended, Mercer returned with two more goals, making it 6-6.
In the final frame, the home side scored first. Shortly after,
Nick Pelletier sniped in his second of the game, with another assist for Clark. In the 56
th minute of the match, the Bears won their face-off's and got two past RMU to take a 9-7 advantage. Continuing to climb back,
Eric Swagerty peppered in a goal to bring the game within one. With three minutes left, the Colonials got two more shots on goal, but couldn't tie up the game. Mercer went on to win 9-8.
REIHNER
A junior from Scranton, Pa.,
Kyle Reihner stepped in for the Colonials against the Bears, earning his first start for RMU. Playing all 60 minutes, Reihner posted one of the best goalkeeping performances in program history. With 20 saves, Reihner finished with the third-most saves in one game for RMU. Facing 48 shots, Reihner posted a .690 save percentage and only allowed nine goals on the day.
FOUR MORE
For the second game in a row, fifth-year attacker
Taggart Clark was a key player for the Colonials. Last game at Detroit Mercy, Clark scored a hat-trick in the first quarter and finished with four points. Today, against the Bears, Clark tallied one goal and dished out three assists. In the 2023 season, he's totaled 19 goals and 10 assists.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Against the Bears,
Liam Keane up top, scooped up the most ground balls for RMU with five on the day. He also registered the most shots with nine. Captain
Owen Down caused a team-high two turnovers. The Colonials were a man-down on six occasions. In all of them but one, the away side defended strong and didn't give up a goal. In the face-off circle, the draws were about even, as junior
Steven DelleMonache won 10-out-of-21 face-offs.
UP NEXT
After playing two games on the road, RMU returns to the Joe Walton Stadium to face two ASUN opponents on home turf. They'll play Utah on Saturday, April 8
th at 12:00 p.m. Saturday's game is Youth Lacrosse Day. And then, on Wednesday April 12
th, the Colonials take on Bellarmine at 4:00 p.m. This game is Faculty & Staff Appreciation Day.
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