Quinnipiac men’s lacrosse has lost a game.
After a 7-0 start to the season, the Bobcats dropped their first game of the year to the Manhattan Jaspers Wednesday afternoon, who were just 2-6 coming into the contest.
The Bobcats — ranked No. 20 in the Inside Lacrosse national poll — started strong, jumping out to a 5-2 lead by the end of the first quarter. But in a sad twist of irony, the team derailed in the second quarter, allowing the Jaspers to go on a 5-2 run of their own to tie the game at seven by halftime.
In the first quarter, the Bobcats offense was rolling as usual. Quinnipiac won every faceoff and its key offensive players were churning. The Donnery brothers, senior midfielder Ryan and senior attack Dylan each scored a goal to start the game.
Rising star sophomore attack Justin Robbert kept his three-game scoring streak alive after he connected on a shot in the first quarter.
But outside of their fantastic start to the game, the Bobcats’ performance against the Jaspers was one to forget.
Quinnipiac suffered from a mass amount of penalties at the faceoff in the second quarter, which allowed Manhattan to start its dominant 5-2 run without much resistance.
Going into the half the score sat tied at seven, the game was still in the grasp of the Bobcats if they were able to rally in the second half.
But any momentum Quinnipiac had at the start of the second half was completely derailed by the end of the third quarter. Graduate student attack Kyle Gucwa — the Jaspers’ star attack — spearheaded a 6-2 run for Manhattan in the third that halted any chance the Bobcats had at seizing the game back.
Quinnipiac was simply out of sync compared to Manhattan. The Jaspers were connected on all cylinders, including the bench.
During the end of the third quarter, Manhattan senior midfielder Quinn Bowler had possession with a chance to put it up by five.
The Jasper bench alerted Bowler from the sidelines that there were only 15 seconds left on the shot clock, Bowler took note and delivered the dagger strike that put the Jaspers up 13-9. It was the first win against a nationally-ranked opponent in program history and their third straight win against Quinnipiac.
Junior goalie Mason Oak, who has had an incredible start to the season, came back down to Earth Wednesday in what was his first subpar performance of the season. Oak had 12 saves on the day but allowed 15 goals, putting his save percentage at just .444%.
Despite the loss, senior midfielder Steven Germain displayed a fantastic knack for getting to the goal, allowing him to score a hat trick of his own.
The Bobcats will return to Hamden to play Mount St. Mary’s on March 30 and attempt to recover from their first loss of the season. The opening faceoff is set for 4 p.m.
