Mercer University
Richmond
Mercer Comes up Short in Season Finale Against Richmond, 12-6
4/30/2016 12:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
MACON, Ga. – The Mercer University men's lacrosse team hosted SoCon foe Richmond for the final game of the season on Saturday afternoon at Five Star Stadium. The Spiders were too much for the Bears, leaving Macon with a 12-6 victory. With Bellarmine defeating Furman in another SoCon game, Mercer finishes fifth in the league with a record of 3-4.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Bears could not have asked for a better start to the game, jumping out to a quick 2-0 lead in the opening five minutes of play. Fresh off of the pregame Senior Day festivities, senior Ben LeSane found the back of the net twice for the Bears' first two goals. Unfortunately for Mercer the lead would not hold, as Richmond responded by scoring three of the last four goals in the first quarter to tie the game at 3-3 heading to the second.
The Spiders and Bears traded goals to start the second quarter and move the score to 4-4 but then Richmond took over scoring the last two goals of the half to grab a 6-4 lead at the break. The visitors continued their momentum into the second half, outscoring Mercer 6-2 in the last 30 minutes of play to win by a final score of 12-6.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Senior goalkeeper Mike Nugent made 16 saves on Saturday to keep the Bears in the game for much of the second half. Of the 16 saves, a number were of the utmost difficulty, as the Milton, Ga., native made some stops from point-blank range. The senior finishes his illustrious career with a program record 536 saves over his four years in Macon.
MERCER STAT OF THE DAY
Fittingly, the final Mercer goal scored in the 2016 season came from senior Chris Baxa. The attacker ends his career as the all-time Mercer leader in goals with 104. Baxa's goal on Saturday gave him a goal in each of his last 32 games, dating back to his sophomore season. The Owings, Md., native also astoundingly registered a point in every game in 49 straight games, which is every game he played in during his Mercer career.
NOTABLES
- Mercer is 1-3 against Richmond in the all-time series.
- Nugent recorded double-digit saves in 8-of-13 games this season.
- Saturday marked Baxa's seventh multi-goal game of the season.
- The two scores push Baxa's season total to 22. He has surpassed the 20 goal mark in all four years of his Mercer career.
- LeSane notched his fifth multi-goal performance of the season and finishes with 14 in the 2016 campaign.
- Chris Rahill extended his goal streak to seven straight outings with a goal.
- With a score Matt Quinn finished second on the team in scoring with 15 goals.
- Freshman Shawn Carter got in on the scoring with his 12th goal of the year.
- Lucas Wittenberg capped off his debut season with a two assist performance. The freshman finished the year with a team-high 12 assists.
RECORD UPDATE
The Bears finish the year with a record of 5-8 on the season and 3-4 in SoCon play, while Richmond improves to 10-4 in 2016 with a mark of 6-1 in league play.
STAY SOCIAL
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