The Quinnipiac Men’s Lacrosse team faced its toughest challenge of the season against nationally-ranked Ohio State on Saturday. The Bobcats were not quite up to the task, suffering their first loss of the season, falling 18-7 to the No. 19 ranked Buckeyes.
“I think you just have to write it off as one of the off days of the season and move forward,” head coach Eric Fekete said. “We kind of came unraveled as the game went on and we relied on good defense and good goaltending and when that went south I think it took a little bit of our confidence away.”
OSU attacked early, as midfielder Pete Poillon scored off an assist from Jeff Ryan less than one minute into the game. However, QU senior captain Anthony Poerio responded, tying the game at one. Though the Bobcats (6-1, 0-1 GWLL) were able to stifle the quick Buckeyes attack for the next five minutes, it wouldn’t be long before OSU began to pull away.
“They seemed to be right on today and didn’t miss any opportunities. We just didn’t execute. When you play high level lacrosse like that that’s how the game goes. If you don’t execute and the other team does you’re gonna come up behind,” Fekete said.
OSU did not only execute-they dominated. Following their go ahead goal with five minutes remaining in the first quarter, the Buckeyes scored seven more times before QU got back on the board.
“We haven’t really been behind much this year. This is really the first time we fell to a big deficit and just didn’t make the adjustments as cleanly as we needed to make them and they just flat out outplayed us,” Fekete said.
Contributing to the Bobcats attack was Sean Endicott, who scored with two minutes remaining in the first half, which brought the score to 9-2.
Supporting the Bobcats effort were A.J. Alessi and Gary Messina, who had a pair of goals each. Messina also assisted on Jack Oppenheimer’s goal in the fourth quarter which brought the score to 14-5.
In a last ditch effort to add to the Buckeyes score, goalkeeper Bill Curry carried the ball down the field to make a shot of his own. However, he was denied by the Bobcats as Alessi turned it around to score for the sixth and final time with seconds left on the clock.
Quinnipiac goalies Kevin Benzing and Ryan Andrew split the damage, as they allowed nine goals each. Benzing mirrored the team’s record, as he had his first loss dropping to 6-1 this season.
The teams squared off in front of a crowd of approximately 300 people. As part of a public relations sports event planning class, a multitude of fans were in attendance for the pregame tailgate and game.
“I appreciate so much the effort and publicity that went into this game with the marketing and sports information people who brought a lot of people out,” Fekete said. “I feel like we kinda cheated people a bit because we underperformed a bit.”
Though the Bobcats had a bye week last week, they will get right back into action this afternoon against Sacred Heart.
“The nice thing about playing [today] is that we have a quick turnaround and we have a chance to get back out and win again,” Fekete said.
