ALMA, Mich. – Continuing their homestand on a sunny Saturday, the Alma College men's lacrosse team hosted the Quakers of Earlham College on Bahlke Field on March 14th. The Scots took the first lead and never trailed throughout the contest on their way to a 7-5 win, propelled by the underclassmen.
Alma opened the games scoring near the end of the first quarter as neither team wanted to relinquish the lead early on. With two minutes left in the first, Nolan O'Dea found the back of the twine and scored unassisted to break the ice.
Alma was able to string together a couple in a row following the O'Dea tally as Cuyler Fielhauer found the back of the net at the nine-minute mark, on a pass from O'Dea to double the Scots lead. Just three minutes later, Fielhauer notched another goal, this time from Elias Rakoczy to put Alma up 3-0. Earlham was able to break the drought before halftime as they snuck one past the keeper with under five left to play in the half, bringing the score to 3-1.
Coming out of the break and with a two-goal lead, the Scots looked to increase the margin, but instead the Quakers narrowed it. Earlham scored the opening goal of the second half three minutes into play looking to tie the game for the first time since the initial whistle. On the following face-off and man-down off a penalty on the following play, Curtis Pleiness won the face-off and bolted down field to fire one into the back of the net and put the Scots back up two. Just a couple minutes later, Earlham responded with a goal of their own to hang within one again as the third quarter time ticked down. Again, the Scots were able to secure a little breathing room as Fielhauer scored his third of the game for his third hat-trick of the season, adding an insurance goal to put Alma back up two, 5-3. Earlham would get the last tally of the quarter though as the Quakers were able to net one passed with three and a half minutes remaining to pull again within one heading into the fourth.
Earlham scored the second consecutive goal for the first time in the game to open the scoring for the final frame, tying the game at fives with just under ten minutes left to play. With under six minutes left to play, Rakoczy caught a pass from Pleiness that he was able to fire passed the keeper and give Alma the outright lead. The Scots were able to put the pressure on with another goal from O'Dea with just over two minutes left as Earlham looked for answers to extend the game. Alma would hold possession as time ticked down to secure a 7-5 win and record their second win in three games.
Both Fielhauer and O'Dea led the Scots offensively with three points apiece while Pleiness and Rakoczy each added two points, respectively. Patrick Hodges, Brady Searer and Preston Stelljes each scooped up three ground balls while Hodges, Connor Pearson and Cameron O'Bryan each recorded two caused turnovers. Stelljes played all 60 minutes between the pipes making six saves for his second win of the season.
Alma will continue their homestand with a game next Saturday, March 21st as the host Hiram College for Senior Day. Face-off for the contest is slated for 12:00 PM.
