NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Capital University men's lacrosse team polished off a perfect 3-0 week in style today, defeating LaGrange College 26-11 in their final game of their spring break trip to Nashville, Tennessee.
In three games this week, Capital's offense rattled off 64 goals, which included 20 by
Mason Spaulding alone.
Capital, who entered Wednesday's game against Adrian 0-2, is now 3-2 midway through their non-conference schedule.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Comets jumped all over the Panthers early and often throughout the game as they scored the game's first three goals thanks to
Drew Bolen,
Brenden Pelton, and
Aiden Manning. LaGrange then scattered four goals around a
Mason Spaulding man-up goal to level things at 4-4.
That forced a Comet timeout and led to five straight goals by Capital to put the result to bed.
Drew Bolen scored two more in that rally, while Pelton,
Jake Belt, and
Charlie Howenstine accounted for the others.
Before halftime,
Nathan Montgomery,
Jacob Poole, Howenstine, Peloton and Bolen all would find the back of the cage to make it 14-6 at the intermission.
After halftime, the Comets used short flurries of offense to get the job done. In the third quarter, goals came from Pelton, Spaulding (3),
Ian Michaud, Belt and
Max Schillig.
In the fourth, the icing on the cake was put on with goals by
Anthony Carusone, Poole, Spaulding, Michaud and
Ty Chase.
THE NUMBERS
As a team, Capital slung 73 shots toward the cage, scoring on 35.6% of their attempts – which in lacrosse is a high conversion rate. In clearing the ball, the Comets were nearly perfect, going 20-for-23 in that department. Also, for the second straight game, Cap picked up 52 ground balls.
Mason Spaulding once again led the offense, scoring five times today. In his three games this week, he scored 20 goals – an average of 6.67 goals per game. In total, Mason has scored 24 goals in five games this year. Based on last week's numbers, Spaulding's 4.80 goals per game would mark him in a tie for 13th best in the NCAA Division III.
Both
Drew Bolen and
Brenden Pelton also lit up the cage, scoring four goals each. The four goals by Bolen marked his first career multi-goal game, thus setting a new career-best.
Both
Jake Belt and
Charlie Howenstine ended with two goals and three assists each. Belt is leading the team with 14 assists on the year, while Howenstine is right on his heels with 12 dimes.
Other goals came from
Ian Michaud (2),
Jacob Poole (2),
Nathan Montgomery,
Max Schillig,
Ty Chase,
Aiden Manning and
Anthony Carusone – his first career goal.
Michaud,
Dylan Comella and Montgomery added a single assist each.
Defensively, Jame Howenstine led the team with five caused turnovers and he also added three ground balls.
Charlie Howenstine, Schillig and
Ethan Adkins also added multiple CTs with two each.
Other leaders in the ground ball game were
Freddy Noday (6), Comella (5),
Gino Nave (4), Schillig (4), Belt (4), and Montgomery (4).
The Comets held their own at the faceoff X, winning 25 of their duals. Noday led with 13 wins,
Arnold Fitzharris won eight and Schillig was a perfect 4-for-4 in his bouts.
Sam McInturf made eight saves in goal.
THE OPPONENT
Goals - Ryan Comeau (4)
Assists - Jack Bryan (2)
Ground Balls - Jacob Jeffords (8)
Caused Turnovers - Five Players (1)
Faceoff Wins - Jeffords (16)
Saves - Isaac Bohrer (10)
UP NEXT
Capital will return to Bernlohr Stadium for another non-conference game with Transylvania this coming Wednesday, March 15th. The faceoff is scheduled for 3 p.m.
