Poets lead early but fall to Chapman, 12-9
ORANGE, Calif. - The Whittier College men's lacrosse team lost to the No. 1 ranked team in the Men's Collegiate Lacrosse Association (MCLA), Chapman University, 12-9 on Wednesday evening in the rain at Wilson Field.
The Poets (2-2) led early in the first quarter but the Panthers scored six of the final seven goals of the half en route to the win.
Whittier scored on its first possession as Sam Russell cashed in on the first of his team-high three goals off a feed from Anthony Lackey to put the purple and gold up 1-0 at the 14:02 mark of the first quarter.
Chapman (5-1) answered at 10:32 of the first quarter but WC scored the next two goals to take a 3-1 lead with 5:20 to play in the first quarter. Charles Fisher netted his lone goal of the evening on an assist by Matt Mulry and Lackey added a score just over two minutes later to give the Poets the two-goal cushion.
The lead was shot lived as the Panthers scored the final three goals of the quarter to lead 4-3 at the end of the first 15 minutes.
Russell added his second goal of the contest to tie the score at four with 7:50 to play in the first half but Chapman closed the second quarter on a 3-0 run to take a 7-4 lead into the intermission.
Ben Brown recorded nine of his 15 saves in the first half.
The third quarter saw the Poets claw their way back into the game. After Chapman stretched its lead to 8-4 WC scored three of the next four goals to cut it to 9-7 with 6:22 left in the third.
Mulry made good on a man up opportunity at the 11:54 mark while Christian Wright followed the Mulry strike just one minute later. After the Panthers made it 9-6 Russell and Lackey connected again to cut the lead to two.
CU scored two of the final three goals of the quarter with none more devastating than its score with one second left in the third frame. The Poets forced an errant pass that bounced through the center of the defense into the stick of a Panther who recorded the score in the waning seconds of the quarter to make it 11-8.
The purple and gold had its opportunities in the final quarter but they only managed one goal. Daniel McQuade scored off a Lackey assist with 3:48 to play which proved to be as close as the Poets would get.
Lackey finished the game with five points (1g, 4a) while McQuade tallied two goals.
The Poets return to action on Sunday, March 8, as they face Drew at 1:00 p.m. at Cathedral High School in San Diego.
Photo by: Bill McCarroll/Friends of Whittier Lacrosse
