CINCINNATI, Oh. - La Roche men's lacrosse defeated Mount Saint Joseph on the road Saturday afternoon at Schueler Field, 21-17. It marks the most goals scored by the Redhawks in a game since March 16, 2013. Four different Redhawks finished with multiple goals led by Junior midfielder Shawn McDanel (Pittsburgh, PA/Baldwin) who finished with six goals, a team-high 17 ground balls and two assists. McDanel won 21 of 34 faceoffs in the contest.
LRU jumped out to an early 6-2 lead after the first period and never looked back. MSJ made cut their deficit to just three in the second period but that is as close as they got, the Redhawks led by as many as seven goals. La Roche did an excellent job of shooting the ball at the net, as 32 of their 42 shots were on goal in yesterday's game (76.2% SOG).
Senior attack Mitchell Bachman (Saxonburg, PA/Knoch) added five goals, five ground balls and an assist. Junior midfielder Austen Lunt (Pittsburgh, PA/North Hills) provided five goals, two assists and three ground balls. Senior midfielder Brent Burkhouse (Pittsburgh, PA/Plum) finished with three goals, six ground balls and an assist. Sophomore transfer Robert Richardson (Pittsburgh, PA/Chartiers Valley) scored his first two goals of the season, dished an assist and picked up five ground balls.
Yesterday's win marks the first time since 2014-15 that the La Roche men's lacrosse program has began 1-1. A great feat for first year head coach, Zach Wilfong.
Final: La Roche: 21, Mt. St. Joseph: 17
Records: La Roche (1-1), MSJ (0-2)
How it Happened
McDanel snatched the first faceoff and quickly found Burkhouse ripped one into the back of the net less that 8 seconds into the game. MSJ would answer though in a similar fashion on the next faceoff and the score was tied 1-1 less than 20 seconds in. La Roche then scored five of the next six goals to take 6-2 lead after the first period.
The Redhawks would build their lead up to seven (11-4) at the 5:06 mark of the second before MSJ would produce a 4-0 run to cut the deficit to three goals. McDanel answered quickly off the next faceoff by finding Bachman who scored less than 10 seconds after the Lions went on their run. Richardson would take advantage of a man-up situation and score with less than a minute left in the second to put LRU up 13-8.
La Roche maintained for the duration of the contest to pick up their first win of the 2020 season.
Inside the Box Score
The Redhawks scored on three out of six man-up opportunities.
LRU picked up 48 ground balls compared to MSJ 35.
Although the Lions attempted 12 more shots than the Redhawks (54-42), La Roche took just two less shots on goal (34-32).
La Roche's sophomore goalkeeper Chris Sylvis (Bethel Park, PA/Bethel Park) made 17 saves.
The Lions Tyler Lindholz scored a game-high eight goals.
NEXT UP: Men's lacrosse will play their home opener this Wednesday, March 3rd at the Baierl Athletic Complex against Franciscan. Game-time is set for 4:00 p.m.