Mercer Falls to #14 Richmond in Home Finale

Sunday, April 25

Macon, Ga.

11 a.m.

Mercer University

5-7, 2-3

Richmond

6-4, 5-0

Richmond

MER

4/25/2021 2:21:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

The Bears suffered a 21-8 defeat.

By: Kraig Doremus

MACON, Ga. – The Mercer Bears suffered a 21-8 defeat to the 14^th-ranked Richmond Spiders in their final home game of the 2021 season on Sunday afternoon.

Mercer (5-7, 2-3 SoCon) jumped out to a 1-0 lead courtesy of Jack Parolin's goal just 57 seconds after the opening face-off, but the Bears managed to score only twice in the opening quarter.

Richmond (6-4, 5-0 SoCon) scored six unanswered goals to take a 6-1 lead with 4:59 remaining in the period, but Parker Junod and Kyle Cox connected to stop the Spiders' run. Cox's goal made it a 6-2 contest, although the Spiders added a goal with 25 seconds remaining in the period to extend their advantage to 7-2. The Bears' Peter Klueber was solid in the cage with five saves in the first 15 minutes.

Klueber made an additional five saves in the second period, keeping Richmond off the scoreboard for more than 12 minutes. The Spiders' Ryan Dunn found the back of the net with 2:19 remaining until the intermission, but 50 seconds later, Matthew Winegardner scored his second goal of the 2021 season, pulling Mercer within five, 8-3, at the half.

The two teams made up for a lack of scoring in the second quarter with a combined 12 scores in the third period. Richmond came out hot after the intermission, scoring five unanswered goals over the first 5:20 of the quarter to extend its lead to 13-3. Patrick Marks, however, refused to allow the Spiders to run away with the victory. Marks, a senior midfielder from Wilmington, N.C., scored three consecutive goals in 75 seconds to cut Richmond's advantage to 13-6 with 2:53 left in the period. Despite Marks' efforts, the Spiders scored four goals over the remainder of the quarter, including one as time expired. Tim Kroneberger scored the Bears' last goal of the third quarter, and after 45 minutes, Mercer trailed, 16-7.

The Orange & Black struggled offensively to start the fourth quarter, and Richmond extended its advantage to 12 goals, 19-7 before Parolin recorded the Bears' first shot. The Spiders scored twice more, but the final goal of the game came via the stick of Cade Blouin who converted with 16 seconds to play in the Bears' 21-8 loss.

Richmond's Ryan Lanchbury led all players with five goals and seven assists. Richie O'Connell also scored five goals for the Spiders. Richmond outshot Mercer, 55-26, and 36-16 in shots on target.

Marks recorded his first hat trick of 2021, and Klueber made a career-high 14 saves in the cage.

NOTABLES

Marks tallied a hat trick for the Bears and also added an assist in the loss.
Klueber's 14 stops are his new career-high. He started in the cage for the first time this season.
Freshman Glen Mandel played in his first collegiate contest and made one save.
Blouin, Kroneberger and O'Connor all scored for the first time in 2021.
Cox scored once and has nine points in 2021.
Marks, Cox and Parolin led the team with three shots on goal.
Luke Sadd served as Mercer's primary face-off specialist and was successful nine times.
Sadd picked up a team-high five ground balls.
Colin Hayek caused four turnovers, also a team-high.
As a team, the Bears caused more than 10 turnovers for the fourth game in 2021. Mercer forced Richmond in 12 miscues on Sunday.

UP NEXT
Mercer will conclude the regular season and fight for a spot in the Southern Conference tournament on May 1 at Bellarmine. Face-off is set for 1 p.m. on ESPN+.

FOLLOW THE BEARS
For complete coverage of Mercer Men's Lacrosse, please follow the Bears on social media at @MercerLacrosse (Twitter) and @MercerMensLacrosse (Instagram) or visit the official home of Mercer Athletics at MercerBears.com