GREENWOOD – The Lander men's lacrosse team battled with a strong Mayville squad from the GLVC, but couldn't control a late scoring surge from the Saints as the Bearcats fell 15-12 at Van Taylor Stadium on Saturday.
Lander drops to 5-2 overall while Maryville moves to 4-1 overall.
Adam Mather led the Bearcats in scoring with five goals on the day. Krew Conroy was close behind with four of his own. Three other Bearcats had one goal each. Mather led Lander on the day in assists with three and points with eight. Caedmon Ferrell, Liam Mackay and Mather all were tied for the team lead in ground balls while James Linn had a team-high three caused turnovers.
Lander would begin the game against Maryville with three consecutive goals conceded to go down 3-0. Drew Wilson would get Lander on the board with a goal with 8:55 in the first before the Saints would strike twice more to go up 5-1. Lander saw Conroy and Mather score back-to-back goals to close the first period with Lander trailing 5-3.
The Bearcats would fire off five goals of their own, with the first three goals of the period belonging to the Blue and Gold. Lander would go up 6-5 after Mather scored a pair of goals and Conroy notched another before the Saints would stop the Bearcat's streak and secure three consecutive goals of their own. Mather and Conroy would respond with a pair of goals in the last three minutes of the first half to send the two teams tied 8-8 at the half.
After 16 goals scored in the first half, the third period would only see three total goals scored.
Maryville would score the first and last goal of the period while a goal from Mather was sandwiched in between to give Maryville a slim 10-9 advantage into the final frame.
The Saints would rattle off five goals in the fourth quarter to help put space between them and Lander. Maryville would start the quarter with two consecutive goals before Carter Wilcox broke up the visitors scoring with a goal at the 11:09 mark. The Saints would tally three goals in a row before Noah Longest and Conroy scored with under a minute left to bring Lander within three of Maryville.
Liam Mackay got the start and played the first 30 minutes of the contest. He made 11 saves while allowing eight as he picked up his first loss of the season. Nicholas Paige played the second half against Maryville. Paige made eight saves while allowing seven goals.
Lander hosts Barton College this Saturday as the Bearcats continue their three-game home stand.
#cLawsUp | @LanderMLAX
