Mercer University
Jacksonville
Mercer Dismantles Jacksonville in Dominant 12-5 Win
4/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – The Mercer University men's lacrosse team earned an impressive win over Jacksonville by a score of 12-5 in the Bears' final road game of the regular season. The victory keeps the Orange and Black in prime position for the fourth and final seed of the SoCon Tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bears jumped out to a 2-0 start in the game's opening 10 minutes off goals from Ben LeSane and Lucas Wittenberg. The Dolphins battled back and tied the contest at 2-2 early in the second quarter.
Less than two minutes after Jacksonville tied the score Mercer reclaimed the lead at 3-2 thanks to a goal from Jackson Kleintz, which sparked a 4-0 run for the Bears over the next 10 minutes of action to push the Mercer lead to 6-2. JU managed to get one goal back before the break to trim the Bears' advantage to 6-3 at the intermission.
The Orange and Black came out of the halftime break and imposed its will on the game, outscoring the hosts 3-1 in the third period to push the lead to 9-4 heading into the final 15 minutes. The Bears continued their dominant run of play and added three more goals in the fourth while allowing just one to seal the win with a score of 12-5.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Senior goalkeeper Mike Nugent put on a shot-stopping clinic between the pipes at Jacksonville, recording a season-high 20 saves while allowing just five goals in the blowout victory. The senior's save percentage of .800 was his highest this season in a game he was forced to make at least 10 saves. Nugent also led the Bears in ground balls with five.
MERCER STAT OF THE DAY
With 12 goals scored on the afternoon, the Mercer offense has scored 10+ goals in four consecutive games for the first time in program history. Wittenberg, LeSane and Chris Baxa all scored multiple times on Saturday to help the Bears achieve the feat.
NOTABLES
- Mercer is 2-4 against Jacksonville in the all-time series, winning each of the last two matchups.
- The five goals are the fewest the Bears have allowed this season on the road and second fewest overall in any game.
- The Mercer attack was strong throughout, as the Bears scored multiple goals in each quarter.
- Nugent has now recorded 20+ saves four times in his Mercer career.
- Wittenberg notched a hat-trick for the second straight week and now has 12 goals in his freshman season.
- With two goals Baxa has scored a goal in every game this season and 31 straight games dating back to his sophomore season. He also extended his active point streak to 48 consecutive games, the fourth longest active streak in the nation.
- Saturday marked Baxa's seventh multi-goal game of the season.
- The two scores push Baxa's season total to 21 and he has now surpassed the 20 goal mark in all four years of his Mercer career.
- LeSane notched his fourth multi-goal performance of the season and now has 12 in the 2016 campaign.
- Chris Rahill extended his goal streak to six straight outings with a score and added a season-best three assists.
- With a score Matt Quinn is second on the team in scoring with 14.
- Scott Baird scored his 13th goal of the season.
- Shawn Carter got in on the scoring with his 11th goal of the year.
- Jackson Kleintz recorded his second goal of 2016.
RECORD UPDATE
The Bears improves to 5-7 on the season and 3-3 in SoCon play, while Jacksonville is now 3-9 in 2016 with a mark of 1-5 in league play.
UP NEXT
Mercer hosts Richmond in its final home game of the season on Saturday for the regular season finale. The game will be played at Five Star Stadium and is scheduled to start at noon.
STAY SOCIAL
For all the latest information and up-to-the-minute updates on Mercer men's lacrosse, please follow the team on Twitter at @MercerLacrosse.
