The #6 Aquinas men's lacrosse team matched up with #3 Saint Ambrose for an NAIA top-10 battle on Monday (Mar. 21) in Davenport, Iowa. The Saints and Fighting Bees traded punches all game, but in the end the Saints were unable to pull off the upset, falling 16-13. At the conclusion of this game Aquinas falls to 2-2 on the season, while Saint Ambrose remains perfect with a 7-0 record.
In the first quarter, Saint Ambrose drew first blood by scoring at 10:15 mark and would score again less than a minute later to put Aquinas in a 2-0 hole. Off the heels of a WHAC Offensive Player of the Week nomination,
Mitch Haggart started another good day with an unassisted goal to cut the deficit in half at the 7:10 mark. Saint Ambrose was able to push its lead up to two goals again, but the Saints answered with a goal from
Jack Rioux after getting a pass from
Zachary Sweet with 4:25 remaining in the period. SAU held a 3-2 lead heading into the second period.
The second stanza was the highest scoring of the game that started with
Blake Baker scoring with a man advantage with 12:15 on the clock and the assist going to
Joey Fitzgerald to tie the game up. Another goal for each team saw the score go to 4-4 with
Jon Jardis putting away a pass from
Cam Gunn for the Saints. Over the next three minutes, the Fighting Bees put together the longest scoring run of the game by putting away four goals to make the score 8-4. Two consecutive unassisted goals by
Kevin LaHaie and Sweet at the 4:18 and 3:43 marks pulled AQ back within two. Each team scored once more before halftime came around with LaHaie scoring with 34 seconds remaining to keep the deficit at two heading into the locker room.
The third quarter was very defensive driven as only four total goals were scored. After Saint Ambrose scored two goals, including one down a man, Sweet came back to score his second goal of the game with just over a minute left on the clock and the assist going to Jardis. A Fighting Bee goal with 39 seconds left pushed the deficit to four heading into the final 15 minutes of the game.
Haggart turned on a switch for the final quarter that began with an unassisted goal with a man advantage as only 43 seconds came off the clock. He scored again three minutes later to bring AQ within two once again. SAU worked quickly, scoring three times over just the next two minutes to stretch the lead back to five. Aquinas responded with three straight goals itself in 1:20 of game action to make the score 15-13 with 5:20 remaining. Baker, Jardis, and Haggart collected the goals, but it would not be enough as the Saints were unable to score again and SAU took home a three-goal win.
In net,
Clayton Boerigter allowed 16 goals and made six saves, while also picking up a ground ball. Defensively, LaHaie picked up seven ground balls to lead the team as Fitzgerald also collected six, while
Matt Wagner forced a team-high three turnovers.
Haggart paced the Saints with four goals with Jardis, Sweet, LaHaie, and Baker all also scoring twice. Jardis added two assists to total four points.
AQ outshot SAU 45-38, while also picking up more ground balls (41-40) and winning the face off battle (18-13). St. Ambrose caused more turnovers (24-23) and both teams scored twice on man up opportunities. The Saints successfully cleared the ball 18 out of 20 times as the Fighting Bees were 19 for 29 on clears.
Aquinas will have its home opener on Sunday (Mar. 27) for its next contest, welcoming UM-Dearborn into town as the opening face off is scheduled for 12:00 PM at the AQ Athletic Field.
