Panthers Edge Anderson

The Anderson University men's lacrosse team fell just short to the Hanover College Panthers in a non-conference match-up by a final score of 7-6 on Saturday in Hanover.

Most of the first quarter went scoreless between the two teams before the Ravens (5-5) found the back of the net off a Johnathan Havener goal with 2 minutes, 38 seconds off an unassisted goal. Heading into the second quarter, the Ravens held a 1-0 lead over the Panthers (6-4).

Hanover then spent the second quarter tying the game and ultimately taking the lead of the Ravens. The Panthers put up back to back goals at 13:10 and 10:39 to tie the game and take the lead for the first time. Anderson then tied it up at 8:01 when Clayton Emery found the back of the net off a Rhodes assist in a man-up situation to make it a 2-2 game. Before halftime, the Panthers put in two more goals, one at 6:27 and the other right before heading into the locker rooms with 5 seconds remaining to have a 4-2 lead over the Ravens.

Anderson then came out of halftime hungry for goals. Rhodes beat the Hanover goalkeeper at 9:38 to put the Ravens down by one. The tying goal then came at 6:29 from Cole Whatley off a Rhodes assist. Anderson then took the lead with 1:47 remaining in the quarter after Emery scored off another Rhodes assist. Heading into the fourth quarter the Ravens led 5-4.

During the final quarter of play, the Panther tied the game 5-5 with 7:04 on the clock. They then took the lead at 4:09 before extending it at 1:29 to hold a 7-5 lead. Anderson fought to stay in the game, putting up one final goal with 21 seconds remaining when Emery recorded his third of the game and Rhodes tallied his fourth assist of the game. Anderson was unable to find the back of the net anymore as they fell to the Panthers 7-6.

The Ravens were led in goal scoring by Emery, who found the back of the net three times. Josh Rhodes recorded one goal while assisting four times. Havener and Whatley both ended with one goal apiece.

Eric Fisher saved eight (53.3 percent) of the 15 shots he faced. Kenny Bentley won 9-of-17 (52.9 percent) faceoffs and picked up six ground balls. Justin Bemis tallied three caused turnovers and four ground balls. Blake Seifert and Emery collected four ground balls apiece.

Anderson ended with 28 shots, 12 on goal, while Hanover had 29 shots, 15 on goal. Hanover recorded one more ground ball than Anderson.

The Ravens will be back in action on Wednesday when they head to Richmond to take on the Earlham College Quakers (2-8) in a non-conference battle.