Junior Jack Oppenheimer scored four goals and tallied two assists, but the Quinnipiac men’s lacrosse team was defeated by Ohio State, 10-8, in an Eastern College Athletic Conference matchup at the Quinnipiac Field Hockey & Lacrosse Field on Saturday.
“We gave up a nice lead and we just weren’t able to overcome that,” Quinnipiac head coach Eric Fekete said. “It was all about confidence and momentum.”
Oppenheimer’s goal with seven minutes remaining in the third gave Quinnipiac (4-2, 1-2 ECAC) a 7-3 lead, but the Buckeyes (5-4, 1-1 ECAC) went on a 7-0 run to take a 10-7 lead. Oppenheimer netted his fourth goal with 1:30 remaining in the game, but the Bobcats fell two goals short of tying the score.
“You got to be ready to play 60 minutes,” Fekete said. “There’s going to be runs for us and runs for them. They responded to our run and tied it. We weren’t able to respond to theirs and stay in the game.”
Oppenheimer, the team-leader in goals (14), opened the scoring for the Bobcats less than three minutes into the first quarter with an unassisted goal. Buckeye Jeff Tundo tied the game at 1 on a man-up chance with 6:42 remaining. Quinnipiac ended the first quarter with a goal by junior Christian Haggerty on a man-up with 2:48 left. Oppenheimer picked up the assist.
Oppenheimer set up senior Todd Kaiser with a goal less than two minutes into the second to give the Bobcats a 3-1 lead. Tundo scored on another man advantage with three seconds left on the penalty. Oppenheimer responded with a goal less than two minutes after Tundo’s snipe to put the Bobcats on top, 4-2. Junior Kevin Kelly earned an assist on the goal.
Ohio State came out into the third quarter with a goal by Paul Beery to make the score 4-3. Quinnipiac responded with three consecutive goals. Senior Garett Kerr scored an unassisted goal on an Ohio State turnover in the Buckeyes’ zone. Junior Mike Gast assisted Kaiser on a goal on a man-up advantage and Oppenheimer scored his third goal of the game on another man-up chance to give the Bobcats a 7-3 lead.
Ohio State scored two goals with 3:48 and 2:41 remaining to trim the Bobcats lead, 7-5, before the end of the quarter.
The Buckeyes opened the fourth quarter scoring five consecutive goals, including one on a man-up.
Quinnipiac compiled 41 shots in the game while Ohio State had 37. The Bobcats went 13-of-21 on faceoffs, while sophomore Zach Pall won 12-of-19 (.632) faceoff opportunities. Quinnipiac also had a 38-24 advantage on ground balls. Zach Pall led the team with nine ground balls.
The Bobcats return to action Saturday, when they travel to West Hartford, Conn., to take on the University of Hartford. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Photo credit: Al Valerio
