Mercer University
Air Force
Men's Lacrosse Upended by Air Force, 10-7
4/11/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer men's lacrosse team saw its four-game winning streak snapped on Saturday afternoon in a 10-7 loss to Air Force at Five Star Stadium.
The Bears slipped to 4-6 on the season while the Falcons won their third-straight and jumped to 7-5.
Sophomore Chris Rahill paced the Bears with four points on the strength of three assists while senior Tim Geran registered three points with two goals scored. Junior Chris Baxa also netted a pair of goals in the losing effort.
The Falcons struck twice in the first 3:05 of the game and never surrendered the lead after ultimately going ahead 3-0. The Bears got within a single goal of the lead on three separate occasions, but were unable to find an equalizing tally.
Geran and Baxa scored back-to-back goals to cut the Mercer deficit to 3-2 early on in the second quarter. Things remained that way until Air Force's Nate Hruby and Mercer sophomore Jackson Kleintz both added late first half scores to send the hosts to the break trailing 4-3.
With 5:14 to play in the third quarter Hruby scored his third goal of the game to spark a stretch of five-unanswered Air Force goals. The Bears scored three times inside the first two minutes to account for the final margin.
Air Force held a slim 37-31 advantage in shots, while Mercer won the battle of ground balls, 29-22. The Falcons held the Bears to just 7-of-14 efficiency in clear attempts and also forced Mercer into 16 turnovers.
Senior Justin Evans won 9-of-21 faceoff and junior goalie Mike Nugent made 13 saves in goal. The Bears return to Southern Conference play hosting Jacksonville on April 18.
