ALMA, Mich. – The Alma College men's lacrosse team continued along with their home stand on Saturday, March 16th, as they took on NAIA opponent Lawrence Technological University. The Scots took an early lead and went into the half tied, though the Blue Devils had a strong second half and snatched a win from the Scots by a final score of 15-8.
Alma got the scoring going early as MJ Humphreys picked up where he left off last game scoring just over 30 seconds into the contest, giving the Scots a 1-0 lead. Alma then scored the next two goals coming from Kevin Koenn and Humphreys again. Shortly after Alma took a three-goal lead, Lawrence Tech broke through and scored their first of the game, and followed it up with another less than two minutes later to cut the lead down to one. Koenn recorded his second of the game with just under four minutes left in the first quarter to double the Scots lead once again. Humphreys also tallied his second of the game on a pass from Koenn to again increase the Scots lead with just over a minute remaining which then led to Drew Gulick putting himself on the score sheet just over ten second left in the quarter, giving Alma a 6-2 lead heading into the second.
Gulick opened the scoring in the second stanza with his second goal of the game to put Alma up 7-2, looking for their first win of the season. The Scots offense would be quieted by the Bule Devil defense following the Gulick goal and LTU would score their first of five in the second quarter with 12 minutes left in the half. The Blue Devils then scored their next goal just a minute later and their third of the quarter with nine minutes left to bring themselves within two. The final two goals of the half came at the five-minute mark and with just under two minutes as the Scots and Blue Devils went into halftime tied, 7-7.
Lawrence Tech would hold the Scots scoreless in the third frame as they scored six unanswered goals to take a six-goal lead of their own, putting time against the Scots as they would need to mount up a comeback as time ticked away. The Blue Devils opened the fourth with a man-up goal and another just over a minute later, holding an eight-goal lead over the Scots with less than ten minutes remaining. Alma scored their final goal of the game with three minutes left as Gulick scored his third and final goal of the game for his hat trick as the Scots would be defeated by Lawrence Tech, 15-8.
Gulick, Humphreys and Koenn led the Scots on offense with three points each as Gulick and Humphreys netted three goals and Koenn netted two with a helper. Gulick led the Scots with shots on goal as well with five, and Patrick Hodges scooped up seven ground balls to lead Alma. Hodges also recorded three caused turnovers for the team high as well. Dylan Smith won 13 of 25 face-offs in the game. Thomas Burns made 16 saves throughout the game as he played from start to finish.
Alma will continue their home stand with a matchup against Anderson University on Saturday, March 23rd. Game time for the contest is set for 2:00 PM on Bahlke Field as the Scots will also honor their seniors for senior day.
