Anderson Posts Win against Mount St. Joseph

The Anderson University men's lacrosse team put themselves back in the win column on Wednesday as they defeated the Mount St. Joseph University Lions 14-8 in a non-conference match-up.

Anderson's (5-3) Josh Rhodes got the game started with the first goal of the contest in a man-up situation at 11 minutes and 12 seconds in the first quarter off a Sean Terry assist. Seven seconds later, Cole Whatley added a goal of his own to make it a 2-0 game at 11:05. Both sides fought to get a hold of the ball and get it on their offensive end for much of the quarter. Between 6:57 and 5:25 the visiting Lions (2-8) put up five shots on the Ravens, three of which were saved by Ravens goalkeeper Eric Fisher. With the first quarter winding down, the Lions secured their first goal of the game with 56 seconds remaining from Nathaniel Bird. At the end of quarter one, the Ravens held a 2-1 lead.

Mount St. Joseph tied the game up early in the second quarter as Mason Melinger found the back of the net with 13:16 on the clock. Anderson answered with a three-goal scoring streak in a matter of one minute between 9:02 and 8:02. Whatley picked up the first goal in a man-up situation, followed by a Johnathan Havener goal off a Rhodes assist. The third goal was a flip of the previous as Rhodes found the back of the net from a Havener assist. A few minutes later at 5:11, the Ravens added on one more to extend their lead. Here, Whatley secured a hat trick for the game after receiving an assist from Rhodes. The Lions put up their third goal of the game shortly after at 4:07 by Ben Koopman. At this time, the Ravens led 6-3. Before heading into the locker rooms for halftime, Anderson put up one more goal over Mount St. Joseph as Rhodes earned himself a hat trick to give the Ravens a 7-3 lead.

Coming out of halftime, the Ravens kept the goals coming. Havener found the back of the net at 12:32 to make it an 8-3 game, continuously giving the Ravens the confidence to find more goals. After assisting earlier in the game, Terry scored off a Havener assist at 8:11. The Lions answered with two goals at 6:35 and 3:07 by Melinger and Solomon Richards to come within four of the Ravens. Before the quarter ended though, the Ravens would take back both of the goals when Caleb Spencer and Blake Seifert added their names to the scoring list at 1:52 and 10 seconds remaining respectively.

Heading into the fourth quarter with a 11-5 lead, the Ravens looked to continue to add on goal as the Lions fought to stay in the game. Mount St. Joseph put up the first goal of the quarter from Nathaniel Bird, making it a 11-6 game in favor of the Ravens. Anderson then put up back to back goals at 13:13 and 13:05 from Whatley and Rhodes respectively. Two goals would go in favor of the Lions at 11:26 by Bird and 6:46 by Mellinger as Mount St. Joseph continued to fight offensively against Anderson. Rhodes secured the final goal of the game for either side when he scored his fifth goal of the game with 4:15 remaining off a Havener assist.

At the final whistle, Anderson secured their fifth victory of the season as they defeated Mount St. Joseph University 14-8.

Anderson ended the game with 39 shots, 28 on goal, while Mount St. Joseph had 41 shots, 19 on goal. The Ravens held a 52-to-42 advantage in ground balls. Mount St. Joseph committed 37 turnovers while Anderson turned the ball over 33 times. Rhodes led the Ravens with five goals and picked up two assists, followed by Whatley who ended with four goals. Havener ended the game with two goals and led with four assists. Seifert, Spencer and Terry closed out the scoring with a goal apiece. Terry also dished out two assists.

On defense, Fisher finished the game in goal with 11 saves. Mason Bratcher notched 10 caused turnovers and five ground balls while Justin Bemis tallied five caused turnovers and six ground balls. Whatley picked up eight ground balls to lead the Ravens. Zach Thompson finished with three caused turnovers and six ground balls. Kenny Bentley and Havener also collected six ground balls each.

The Ravens will be back in action at Macholtz Stadium on Saturday when they host the Trine University Thunder (5-1) at 1PM in a non-conference contest.