GEORGETOWN, Texas – The Southwestern University Pirates men's lacrosse team missed a shot in the final few seconds, falling to the Trine University Thunder 10-9.
Cody Foster tied Kai Knight-Turcan for the team lead in points with each scoring two goals and dishing out one assist. Foster's final assist brought the Pirates to within one with 3:30 remaining, finding Everett Barger for the Pirates' third goal of the fourth quarter.
The Pirates won the ensuing faceoff but a Jared Welsh shot missed wide and Southwestern committed a turnover coming out of a timeout. The Pirates' defense held, getting a big save from Alex Melitz and forcing a wild shot from Trine's Neil Orr against the shot clock with 53 seconds remaining.
Southwestern cleared the ball and called timeout with 30 seconds remaining, setting up a last-second shot from Barger that bounced a little too high, soaring over the net as time ran out.
In an even game, the Pirates failed to capitalize on several man-up opportunities, even giving up a goal in one situation where a Barger shot hit the crossbar with a long ricochet to Trine's Justin Gearig, leading to a quick clear and transition goal for Brandon Matuszczak.
For the game, the Pirate were just 1-for-7 in man-up opportunities while Trine finished 3-for-4. Southwestern outshot Trien 37-33, winning 18 of the 23 face offs and doubling Trine up in ground balls at 26-11.
After jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Pirates surrendered a 4-0 run to end the first quarter with Daniel William Shine capping off the quarter by finding Gearig for the goal with two seconds remaining.
Both teams played to a draw in the second quarter with each scoring two goals. The Pirates and Thunder traded goals in the third quarter with Trine taking the quarter 3-2 on a man-down goal by Gearig on an assist by Matt Zanichelli for a 9-6 lead.
The Pirates opened the fourth quarter with consecutive goals, getting a Zac Asbury goal on an assist from Kai Knight-Turcan and an unassisted scored from Barger.
Trine scored its 10th goal on an unassisted score by Eric Peal, setting up the Barger goal and miss in the final seconds.
Gearig led Trine with five points, scoring four and assisting on another. Barger, Knight-Turcan, and Foster each had two goals for the Pirates. Logan Spalding led Southwestern in assists with two. Kyle Kuberski started at goalie for the Pirates, totaling seven saves on 14 shots. He was replaced at halftime by Alex Melitz, who stopped four of seven shots.
With the loss, the Pirates drop to 2-2 on the season. Southwestern will host Chatham University on Wednesday, March 6 at 7:00 p.m.
