ANGOLA, Ind.-- The Trine men's lacrosse team dropped a tightly-contested game to MIAA-foe Alma as the Scots earned an 11-10 victory Wednesday night in Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium.
Alma scored two of the three goals in the fourth quarter to break a nine-all tie and earn the victory. The Scots were able to take advantage of specialty situations in the game, scoring on 3-of-6 extra-man opportunities and scoring twice while down a man. Tyler Bennett and Josh Sejat each scored twice for Alma. Chris Ward (Oak Lawn, Ill./St. Rita) tied his career-high with five goals to lead the Thunder attack. Kevan Barissi (Grand Rapids, Mich./Forest Hills Central) aded his first-career two-goal effort. Trine fell to 2-7 overall, 0-3 in the MIAA. Alma is 8-4 overall and 2-0 in conference play.
Other than extra-man opportunities, the two teams played close to even in nearly every statistical category. Alma outshout Trine 39-31, while the Thunder held a 40-38 edge in ground balls. Trine won 14-of-25 face-offs, but lost the turnover battle by a 25-20 margin.
Jordan Backer (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville) had a strong game on the back line for the Thunder, picking up seven ground balls and causing four turnovers. Paul Carlquist (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove South) added a goal and assist, while Brandon Walters (Bloomfield Hills, Mich./University of Detroit Jesuit) and Nick Maher (DeWitt, Mich./DeWitt) each tallied a goal apiece.
Eight different Scots scored. Quentin Ellis picked up a goal and two assists, while Marshall Argenta added a goal an assist for a multi-point night. Austin Lesperance made six saves to earn the victory in goal.
Alma outscored Trine 3-2 in each of the first two quarters to take a 6-4 lead into the half. The Scots looked poised to blow the game open when goals by Sejat at Tanner Diement scored in the opening minutes of the third quarter to give Alma a four goal lead.
The Thunder struck right back, scoring three times within a span of 1:24 to cut the deficit to one. Ward scored twice, while Barissi ripped home his second goal of the night off a pass from Jake Ahearn (Naperville, Ill./Naperville). A Scot goal by Dan Buchy halted the run, but two more goals by Ward knotted the score at nine heading into the fourth. G.T. Youpel (Chicago Ridge, Ill./St. Rita) picked up the assist on the game-tying goal.
Argenta scored just under two minutes into the fourth to give Alma the lead, but Maher had the equalizer off Ahearn's nice feed into the middle. Ahearn picked up two assists on the night.
The Scots took advantage of an extra-man opportunity, as David Foster scored the game-winner on the man-advantage with 5:21 remaining.
Trine returns to action Tuesday, Apr. 14. when the Thunder host Calvin on Senior Night. Face-off is set for 7:30 p.m.
