ADRIAN, MICH. -- The Trine University men's lacrosse team recorded its second 20-goal game of the season and fell one goal shy of its season high with a 23-10 win against Adrian (Mich.) College in a Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association game in Adrian, Mich.
One of the highlights of the day statistically was the performance of sophomore Tyler Corless (St. Clair Shores, Mich./De La Salle) who ended the day with nine total points, scoring four goals and a game-high five assists. Senior Eric Peal (Imperial, Mo./Seckman) scored a game-high five goals, and also assisted on another, for six points.
Junior Tyler Klima (Schaumburg, Ill./Schaumburg) finished with a five-point afternoon with a pair of goals and three assists. Three players ended the game with two goals and two assists in junior Justin Gearig (Vicksburg, Mich./Vicksburg), senior Neil Orr (Lombard, Ill./Montini Catholic) and sophomore Jarod Schepp (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine).
Rounding out the multiple-point days was the duo of senior Conner Putman (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) who scored a pair of goals and an assist for three points and sophomore Brandon Matuszczak (Hoffman Estates, Ill./William Fremd) who had a pair of goals for two points. In addition, freshmen Austin Lindell (Geneva, Ill./Geneva) and James Fry (Columbus, Ind.) both scored a goal, while sophomore Brennan Battle (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) scoring an assist.
In net, sophomore Anthony Marasco (Naperville, Ill./Nequa Valley) made his first start of the season and played all 60 minutes. He made nine saves in his first victory of the year. As a team, the Thunder recorded 45 ground balls led by sophomore Dave Keptner (Midland, Mich./H.H. Dow) who had eight ground balls. Three players finished with seven ground balls that included Marasco, Matuszczak and senior Max Harris (Green Bay, Wis./Green Bay Southwest).
Trine (6-3, 1-2 MIAA) scored its first two goals in the first three-and-a-half minutes of the first quarter on its way to tallying the first five goals of the contest. Gearig and Peal scored their first goals of the day less than a minute apart to put the Thunder out to an early 2-0 advantage. Just over two minutes after Peal's first goal, Gearig tallied his second marker with 9:30 to go in the period. The offensive spurt continued about a minute later when Lindell found the back of the net at the 8:26 mark to increase the margin to 4-0. The final score for Trine in the quarter came off the stick of Putman at the 2:45 mark and put Trine ahead by a score of 5-0. Adrian (3-7, 0-2 MIAA) ended its scoring drought just before time expired in the quarter to get on the board and make it a 5-1 game after the first 15 minutes.
The two teams combined for three goals in the opening 3:24 of the second quarter with Adrian scoring two of the goals. Trine tallied a goal at the 12:19 mark when Orr got in on the scoring for the sixth goal of the game for the Thunder who led by three goals, 6-3, after the early offensive fleury. Following the Bulldog goal that made it a 6-3 game, Trine rattled off three straight goals from Peal, Klima and Putman that extended the margin to 9-3. After another goal by Adrian, Peal and Klima scored back-to-back goals to end the scoring in the half and gave the Thunder a seven-goal advantage at the break, 11-4.
Trine looked to continue the scoring right from the start of the third quarter when Matuszczak picked up the ground ball off of the opening faceoff and went straight to the net for a score just 11 seconds in. Less than a minute later, Adrian answered with a goal of its own to creep back to within seven goals, 12-5. But Trine continued to extend its lead with three consecutive markers with scores by Corless at the 13:06 mark, followed by Schepp at the 10:10 mark and then Peal at the 8:27 mark en route to a 15-5 advantage. The period ended with both teams adding a pair of goals with Trine's scores coming off the sticks of Matuszczak and Corless that made it a 17-7 game heading into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter saw no let up in the scoring that began with a goal by Orr on a man-down disadvantage 43 seconds into play. Adrian then scored back-to-back goals less than a minute apart before Corless struck for consecutive goals of his own that resulted in a 20-9 advantage for the visitors with a little under 10 minutes to go. Trine scored two the game's next three goals when Schepp and Peal got shots past the Bulldog netminder as the Trine lead balooned to 12 goals, 22-10, with 4:24 to play. The final goal of the game came just under the 30-second mark when Fry found the back of the net as Trine cruised to the 23-10 final.
Trine will host Kalamazoo (Mich.) College in a MIAA matchup on Wednesday, Apr. 17 at Fred Zollner Stadium in Angola, Ind. The two teams are scheduled to face off at 7 p.m.