The Aurora University men's lacrosse team trailed at halftime on Wednesday night against Hope College 10-4. AU tightened the screws defensively and roared back to tie the contest 12-12 with five minutes left in the game. A couple late turnovers for the Spartans turned into Hope goals as AU would fall in a nail-biting ending 14-13.


GAME SCORE: Hope College 14, Aurora University 13
RECORDS: Aurora University 1-3 overall ; Hope College 3-2 overall
LOCATION: Montgomery, Illinois - Spartan Athletic Park


- Hope came out and scored three times in the first 1:14 of the game, forcing an AU timeout to regroup.
- AU settled in and would score their first goal at 6:31 from the stick of Conor Bolton.
- Hope scored the next three goals and led 6-1 after the opening 15 minutes.
- The Spartans would score three times in the second. Goals came from Tyler Foerstel, Carson Leader (man-up) and Chris Bucci.
- Heading to halftime, AU trailed 10-4.
- The halftime talk got the Spartans going as they out-scored Hope 5-2 in the third and were back in the game down 12-9.
- Leader and Owen Spencer scored twice in the third with Foerstel collecting the other AU tally.
- The Spartans really locked down in the fourth and tallied a man-up goal a minute in off the stick of Ben Strub.
- Foerstel brought AU to down one with his third goal of the night at 8:12.
- Spencer then collected his third goal of the contest to tie the game with 5:00 on the clock.
- The game remained knotted at 12-12 into the final minutes
- With just over two minutes left, an AU turnover near midfield quickly turned into a Hope go-ahead goal.
- After AU won the following face-off, a turnover allowed Hope to try and run out a chunk of the clock. With seconds left on the shot clock the visitors would go up two at 14-12.
- Spartan Ian Funk won the face-off once again with Ben Strub picking up the loose ball and scoring to bring AU to back within on at 14-13 with 14 seconds to play.
- A Hope penalty on the goal was enforced but Hope would win the final face-off of the game and run out the clock.
- AU fell in a valiant effort 14-13


Points: Ben Strub and Owen Spencer (4)
Goals: Owen Spencer, Carson Leader and Tyler Foerstel (3)
Assists: Ben Strub (2)
Ground balls: Ian Funk and Asher Deputy (6)
Caused Turnovers: Zach Klug (3) and Owen Spencer (2)
Face-offs: Ian Funk (14-for-27)
Saves: Asher Deputy (18)


Next scheduled action for the Spartan men's lacrosse team comes on Thursday, March 7 when they travel to Cornell College. Opening face-off is scheduled for 7:00 p.m. in Mount Vernon, Iowa.