COLUMBUS, Ohio – On a beautiful Monday afternoon, the Capital University men's lacrosse team played hosts to North Central College, where they defeated the visitors by a score of 12-10.
North Central – based in the Chicago area – made the stop in central Ohio as they make their way toward Virginia on their spring break travels. The loss now sets them back to 1-3 on the year.
Capital's win came via a complete team effort on both ends of the ball and pushed the Comets to 2-4 on the season. Cap has surely been hindered this season by the injury bug as numerous players have either missed action or been limited in action. Today was no different as Cap was without leading assist man
Jack Scharner among many others.
On the offensive side of the ball, Cap definitely shared the action as nine players found the back of the cage.
Mason Spaulding,
Evan Frund, and
Nathan Montgomery each scored twice, while the other goals were scored by
Jake Belt,
Cody Colon,
Aiden Manning,
Ian Michaud,
Brenden Pelton, and the uncharacteristic
Jack Conley.
Defensively, Capital had star performances from the likes of Conley,
Doc Crimmel,
Jaden Kaznowski and
Chase Snyder. The quartet combined to pick up 19 of the team's 37 ground balls and forced eight of the team's 12 caused turnovers.
In the net,
Sam McInturf had a career day as he was tasked with a busy afternoon of action. He stood tall and stopped 16 shots, matching his total from the season-opener this year.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Capital came flying out of the gates and took a 3-0 lead after just 1:33 of game time had elapsed.
Lake Harris got things going by winning the game's first three faceoffs. From there,
Cody Colon,
Aiden Manning and
Jake Belt rattled off the goals and
Evan Frund and
Mason Spaulding played provider on the latter two goals.
Despite being shot out of a cannon to start the game, Capital took their foot off the gas through the end of the quarter, allowing the Cardinals to take a 4-3 lead at the end of the first stanza.
The sluggish end to the first was certainly a wake-up call for Capital as the team overwhelmed North Central 5-0 in the second quarter to claim an 8-4 halftime lead. After
Nathan Montgomery tallied with 12:29 remaining in the quarter, Cap once again struck fast and furiously by netting three goals in the span of just 53 seconds this time.
Ian Michaud and
Evan Frund scored first, before Montgomery nabbed his second of the game – a man-up goal.
Brenden Pelton put the cherry on top of the second quarter by scoring just before the halftime horn.
The third quarter belonged to North Central as they forced a nervy fourth quarter, closing the gap to 9-8 before the final 15 minutes.
Mason Spaulding scored his first of the game in the quarter to keep Cap ahead.
The fourth quarter was then swung in Cap's favor as
Jack Conley, Spaulding, and Frund tied the bow on the morale boosting 12-10 win. Conley scored his first career goal near the start of the quarter as the seas parted in front of him and he found himself unmarked down the middle of the field. From about 10 yards from goal, Conley raised his long-stick high and beat the Cardinal netminder with a strong finish.
THE OPPONENT
Jack Moran led NCC with four goals, while Tom Eberhardt scored three. Luke Illgen dished out four assists from behind the cage. Dylan Anderson picked up a game-high 10 ground balls, all of which came on faceoff wins. Jake Allgood made 11 saves in goal for the Cardinals.
UP NEXT
Capital will take the week to recuperate before hosting Wittenberg University on Saturday, March 19th at 4 p.m. The game will take place approximately one hour after the conclusion of the Capital women's game against Oberlin which is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
