The Aurora University men's lacrosse team hosted a rare doubleheader Saturday on Vago Field, taking on the Poets of Whittier University followed by a Midwest Lacrosse Conference matchup with the Griffins of Fontbonne University. AU split the day, losing to Whittier 12-8 and defeating Fontbonne 23-6.
Game One vs. Whittier
The Spartans took the field on the cool spring morning ready for the contest. The Poets struck first with a goal 13:31 into the half. Spartan senior
Max Obriecht quickly responded for the Spartans tying the game at one with 11:31 on the game clock.
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The Poets' Aaron Shelf then fired his second goal of the game on consecutive shots to retake the lead for the Poets. Moments later another goal for the Poets left the Spartans trailing by two. AU senior
Garret Rosiek finished the quarters scoring with a goal at 3:43 and leaving the Spartans trailing by one, 3-2.
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The Poets and Spartans continued to battle trading two goals apiece in the second quarter. AU got goals from
Nick Glaser and
Jason Koziol (Obriecht assist). Heading into halftime the score was 5-4 in favor of the Poets.Â
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Taking to the field in the second half, Obriecht scored off the first possession with a snipe to the top shelf of the net, tying the game up at 5-5. Whittier responded with two goals in under three minutes leaving the score 7-5 with 12 minutes to play.
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The Poets then continued their scoring prowess, stretching the score to 9-5 before AU, on the backs of Obriecht and sophomore
Trevor McNamara began to climb back scoring two goals late in the third quarter. McNamara scored with just 5 seconds left and going into the fourth quarter the Spartans trailed 9-7.
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The fourth quarter spelled trouble for the Spartans as Whittier threw three additional goals into the net. Spartans attempted to battle back scoring one goal by McNamara but fell in the contest 12-8.Â
Game Two vs. Fontbonne
The Spartans returned to the field for game two against the visiting Griffins. The Spartans took a lightning fast lead 11 seconds in, with a goal from Obriecht. The Spartans continued their first quarter dominance scoring six more goals in the quarter. Scoring goals (assists) for AU was Koziol (Austin Henson),
Tanner Lerdahl (Koziol),
Bailey Smith had two (
Sam Hiss and Koziol),
Kyle Lowy (
Jeremy Kartel) and
Nick Virden (Lerdahl).
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The second quarter started very similarly as the Spartans scored six times to lead 13-0 midway through the quarter. The six goals were tallied by Rosiek (two man-up goals) with assists from Obriecht and Koziol, Koziol added another with a Henson assist,
Nick Arleo (Henson), Lerdahl (Henson) and
Tyler Hetrick. After Fontbonne got on the scoreboard with 6:10 to play with a man-up goal, AU added one more man-up goal before the half from Lerdahl (Henson) to head into halftime up 14-1.
The Spartans took to the field for the second half looking to continue their dominant performance while seeing all dressed Spartans see significant playing time. Five third quarter goals from Henson (Lerdahl), Arleo (Kartel),
Ryan Marchand,
Jack Dependahl and
Joe Ebel (Lerdahl). At the end of three, AU led 19-1.
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The teams played out the fourth quarter with AU building a 21-2 lead with goals from Ebel (Kartel) and Lerdahl (Arleo) before the visiting Griffins scored four times in 3:30 to pull the score to 21-6. Spartans
Cooper Carlson and Arleo (Hetrick) finished the days scoring and a Spartan 23-6 victory.
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With the split, AU is now 5-6 overall and 2-0 in the MLC. Next action for the Spartan men's lacrosse comes on Wednes
day, April 1 when they travel to Beloit College. Game time is set for 7:00 p.m. in Beloit, Wisconsin.
