ANGOLA, Ind. – The Trine University men's lacrosse team came up short in a defensive battle with visiting Adrian College, falling by the score of 9-6.
Sophomore Nick DiPaolo (Flemington, N.J. / Immaculate) played a spectacular game in net despite recording the loss. He finished the game with 15 saves and a team high seven ground balls in his 60 minutes of play. The effort kept the team in the game from start to finish, but unfortunately the Bulldogs' goalie played just as well across the field to keep the team from making a comeback.
Adrian scored the first two goals of the contest, one coming with nine minutes remaining in the first and the other with 4:45.
The Thunder would respond over the final four minutes of the first quarter, tallying three goals to take a 3-2 lead into the first break of the contest. The first goal came in transition following one of DiPaolo's saves. The team quickly moved up the field and senior Brian Morris (Metamora, Mich. / Lapeer) would make the final move to score the goal.
The team's second goal came in the final minute of play, once again in transition this time off of turnover following a bad pass by Adrian. Once in the offensive zone, junior Andrew Douglas (Liberty Twp., Ohio / Lakota East) passed the ball from behind the net to senior Matt Zanichelli (Rolling Meadows, Ill. / William Fremd) who would score the goal.
The final goal of the period would come with just over one second remaining. After the Bulldogs won the faceoff, an offsides call gave the Thunder the ball at midfield. Zanichelli would quickly carry the ball into the zone and pass it off to junior Noah Markus (Woodbury, Minn. / East Ridge) who got off the last second shot to score.
Adrian would tie the game again just over a minute into the second period then would make it a two-goal game over the final seven minutes of the half. They would continue the run by scoring the lone goal of the third period and the first goal of the fourth to hold their biggest lead of 7-3 with just under 14 minutes remaining in the game.
With just under 13 minutes in the final quarter, the Thunder would strike again. Sophomore Collin Custer (Spanaway, Wash. / Bethel) would score the goal, his first of the game, cutting the score to 7-4.
The two teams would trade goals over the rest of the contest with the score fluctuating between a four and three goal lead for the Bulldogs, ending in the 9-6 score. Freshman Patrick Doyle (Fishers, Ind. / Cathedral) and Custer would score for Trine during the stretch.
Trine falls to 8-4 overall and 2-3 in Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) play. The team will secure the four-seed in the upcoming MIAA Tournament by winning their final game of the season, or with a loss by Calvin University. The Thunder will play Kalamazoo College on Saturday, April 30 in their final game of the regular season. Opening faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
