ANGOLA, Ind. -- The Trine men's lacrosse team was defeated by Alma, 13-8, in the MIAA-opener Saturday afternoon at Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium.
A six-goal run over a span of 16:09 broke open the game in favor of the Scots early. Alma went on to lead by as much as 10 goals. Jared Nycz filled the stat sheet with three goals, four assists, five ground balls and a caused turnover to lead the Scots. Ian Grise (Goshen, Ind. / Northridge) paced the Thunder attack with two goals and an assist. Trine fell to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the MIAA. Alma improved to 7-4 overall, 1-1 in conference play.
Reigning MIAA Offensive Player of the Week Conner Putman (Ridgefield, Conn. / Ridgefield) added two goals for the Thunder. Nick Maher (DeWitt, Mich. / DeWitt) also notched two points with a goal and an assist. Jordan Batie (Goshen, Ky. / North Oldham) won 15-of-22 faceoffs and tied Joseph Steigmeyer (Fort Wayne, Ind. / Bishop Dwenger) for the team lead with five ground balls.
Chase Hunyadi scored a team-high five goals and added an assist for the Scots. Daniel Buchy added two goals and an assist. Ben Luzar helped lead the defensive effort with three caused turnovers and four ground balls. Goalie Cam Strelljas negated Trine's 36-29 edge in shots with a superb effort in goal, making 18 saves.
After a goal by Hunyadi, Putman answered to tie things up 1-1 with 10:02 to play in the first quarter. The Scots' 6-0 run started with a goal by Johnathon Durga at the 9:25 mark of the first quarter. A Grise goal at the 6:26 mark of the second quarter stopped the Alma run temporarily, but the Scots would go on to score five more goals to open up their largest lead, 12-2, early in the third quarter.
The Thunder attempted to rally with a six-goal run beginning in the closing seconds of the third quarter. Maher started the run and then connected with Grise on a pass for a man-up goal early in the fourth quarter.
An explosion of four goals in a span of 1:25 brough Trine back within 12-8. Putman, Neil Orr (Lombard, Ill. / Montini Catholic), Eric Peal (Imperial, Mo. / Seckman) and Brent Farrugia (Clarkston, Mich. / Clarkston) all scored, with Farrugia's goal pulling the Thunder within the four-goal margin.
Alma halted Trine's run there and a goal by Hunyadi provided the final margin.
The Thunder return to action Tuesday, Apr. 11 at Kalamazoo. Faceoff is set for 5 p.m.
