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Men’s lacrosse team starts season 2-2

 Courtesy of Mike Watters Photography

 The Rollins Men’s Lacrosse team fell to Belmont Abbey with a score of 8-3 as it launched another upset bid fresh off its thrilling overtime 10-9 upset win over No. 10 Wingate. 

Belmont Abbey got off to an early lead by scoring three goals in the first quarter, but the Tars persisted. 

Peyton Miller (‘22) made his mark early by adding a goal and assist. In doing so, the Tars cut the Crusaders’ lead to just two goals entering the final half of the game. 

Colin Hall (‘22) went on to add one more goal for the Tars, but it wasn’t enough as the Crusaders scored four more goals in the second half. 

Although the final score of 8-3 indicates a Belmont Abbey victory, the real story of the game is in the stat sheet, with the Tars holding their own respectably.

The Tars took 47 shots, 26 of which were on target, as opposed to the Crusaders’ 29 total shots. The Tars were also careful with the ball, as they only had seven turnovers compared to Belmont Abbey’s 20.

On paper, Belmont Abbey’s goalie, Bryce Gifford (‘20), finished the game with a whopping 23 saves in 60 minutes of play. However, the Crusaders capitalized on the Tars’ mistakes.

“We made their goalie look much better than he was by allowing him to make easy saves. When we had open shots, we either missed or put the ball right to the goalie’s stick,” Jackson Colling (‘20) said. 

The Tars’ offense was consistent in the home fixture against Wingate on Feb. 29, where Colling scored the overtime win against the Bulldogs. He had mixed reviews when asked about how the team performed offensively in last week’s game: 

“We were able to find holes in their defense and had a ton of great opportunities, but we just couldn’t find the back of the net,” Colling said, praising the tactical approach.

However, he admitted that, from a technical point of view, the Tars had room for improvement. “I think, offensively, we underperformed. We shot very poorly and it cost us the game,” he said. 

The team put on a solid showing following their upset win, and they look to build on it going forward. 

When asked about the outlook for the team as the season progresses, Colling said, “We’re a team with huge amounts of potential; we just need to clean up the details and be more disciplined. If we can do those two things consistently, then nobody can beat us.” 

The team hopes to keep up their good start to the season as they play Rockhurst in Kansas City for their next game on Saturday, March 14.

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