LOUISVILLE, Kent. – The Alma College men's lacrosse team continued their strong start to their season as they headed the furthest south of the season so far to Louisville, Kentucky for a match up with the Golden Eagles of Spalding University. The Scots pulled away and won their fourth straight game, by a score of 16-6.
Spalding opened the scoring just 45 seconds into the game to break the ice, putting Alma in a deficit for the second-straight game in the opening minutes. The Golden Eagles were able to tally on another early to put the Scots down two, before they could even put themselves on the board. MJ Humphreys was able to break the silence for the Scots around the six-minute mark, cutting the deficit in half. Cole Pearson the tied the game following a pass from Kevin Koenn, bringing both teams back to an even playing field. Koenn then opened the scoring for the second quarter as he notched his first less than two minutes in, then adding another while man-up just a minute later. Koenn would keep the offense clicking as he would set up Dylan Smith, who would crash the net and score his first of the game, less than five minutes into the second quarter. Just a minute later, while man-up again, Koenn added his third of the game to put Alma up 6-2 over the Golden Eagles. Smith followed behind Koenn and recoded his second of the game on a pass from Humphreys with just under five minutes remaining, keeping Spalding a safe distance away nearing the half break. Lucas Storm joined in on the offensive action with three minutes left in the half, landing one in the pay dirt and bringing the halftime score to 8-2 in favor of the plaid.
Jacob Kluk opened up the scoring for the second half off of a nice play from Kevin Koenn to continue the offensive onslaught by the Scots. Smith then tallied his third just three minutes later, putting Alma in the double-digits for the fourth straight game. The Golden Eagles then slightly disrupted the Scots offense as they were able to get one back just under the eight-minute mark, bringing their deficit to seven. Curtis Pleiness increased the lead back to eight with a goal shortly after six-minutes, which then led to Humphreys finding the back of the twine and putting Alma up nine with under five in the third remaining. Some late penalties in the third quarter gave Spalding's offense a chance to get to work again as they would score two goals on the man-up opportunity, before securing a third goal at even strength to end the third quarter, bringing the score to 12-6 with 15 minutes left to play. Humphreys opened the final frame scoring four minutes in unassisted, followed by Pearson who was set up by Koenn, putting Alma up 14-6. Ayden Hibdon added a new face to the score sheet with seven-minutes remaining in the game as Koenn was able to feed him a pass to find the back of the net. The final Scots goal would come from Koenn and Smith was the feeder this time, giving Alma their 16th goal, and a ten-goal lead for the win.
Koenn would lead Alma in the game with four goals and five assists for nine total points. Humphreys and Smith both tied behind their teammate with four points each. Smith tied for the game-high in ground balls with five as well as Patrick Hodges would also tie for the game-high in the caused turnovers category. Preston Stelljes started the game in net for the Scots and was credited the win, making ten saves on the day. Gaven Atkins saw some time for relief in the fourth quarter, making four saves.
Alma will now travel back north to round out their spring break trip against Wilmington College in Ohio on Saturday, March 1st. faceoff for the game is set for 1:00 PM.
