FROSTBURG, Md. – The No. 18 Frostburg State men's lacrosse team used a nine-goal second half to open its Capital Athletic Conference schedule with a 13-5 victory over Marymount (Va.), Saturday afternoon at Bobcat Stadium.
The Bobcats (7-0, 1-0 CAC) were led a duo of midfielders as senior Tate Rolland (2 goals, 2 assists) and sophomore Adam Gross (1g, 3a) both tallied four points each. The loss drops Marymount to 3-3 on the season and 0-1 in league play.
Senior midfielder Erik Geiser (10-of-13, 6 ground balls) and junior midfielder Kyle Horak (7-of-8, 7 ground balls) dominated at the X, combining for 81 percent (17-of-21) of the face-offs won to keep the momentum in Frostburg's favor.
FSU got things rolling just 1:06 into the game when Rolland found senior midfielder Michael Kibler for the Bobcats' first goal. Senior attackman Spenser Love found the back of the net on his own 2:43 later, and thanks to both teams' defense, it would be over seven minutes later before sophomore midfielder Adam Gross found senior attackman Blake Grudzien for FSU's third mark.
Marymount's Matt Justice got on the board with just 1:15 left as the Bobcats led 3-1 heading into the second quarter.
Gross then found Grudzien in the opening minutes of the second to slide the 'Cats ahead 4-1, but Justice found the back of the net and assisted on a mark from Bryan McManus to sneak back within one, 4-3, and maintain their one-goal deficit until halftime.
The Bobcats came out of the intermission ready to go, clawing out a 6-1 run that saw goals from Gross, Kibler, Rolland, Love, and two from junior midfielder Chase Cullison to lead 10-4 heading into the final quarter.
Junior midfielder John Gamber found Kibler to keep the Bobcats rolling in the fourth and Rolland took advantage of a Saints penalty to push FSU's lead to 12-4 with 5:25 left. Rolland then slipped a pass to senior attackman Nick Stailey to give the Bobcats their final goal.
With time winding down, Matthew Ebert found the back of the net, but it was too little, too late as FSU won, 13-5.
The Bobcats outshot Marymount 48-20 and picked up 19 more ground balls than the visitors.
Rolland finished with five ground balls and sophomore defender Josh Nicodemus caused two turnovers and picked up four ground balls in the win. Senior keeper Tom Kraemer finished with four saves on the day.
Justice led the Saints with two goals and an assist, while McManus finished with two goals. Keeper Mike Kempel added 14 stops in the cage for Marymount.
The Bobcats return to action Monday, March 14 when they travel to Johns Hopkins University for a neutral-site contest against Sewanee. Face-off is slated for 6:00 pm. Fans can follow all of the action live at www.FrostburgSports.com/Live.
