ST. MARY'S CITY, Md. – The Frostburg men's lacrosse team earned a narrow 9-8 win over St. Mary's in the regular-season finale for both programs and the Bobcats clinched the #5 seed in the upcoming CAC Tournament.
The Bobcats led 9-5 following three quarters and then had to withstand a Seahawk comeback as the hosts scored three goals in the final stanza to pull to within one.
The victory improves the Bobcats to 9-6 overall on the season and 5-3 in the CAC. Frostburg will now travel to fourth seed Mary Washington on Wednesday (April 19) for a first-round matchup at 4:00 pm.
St. Mary's ends its season with a 1-14 overall record and a 1-7 slate in the league.
Junior Adam Gross scored a goal in the first quarters and handed out two assists to lead the Bobcat attack. Junior Keegan Colegrove finished with one goal and one assist.
Gross' first score evened the game at 1-1 with 7:05 left in the first quarter, while his second score was the third goal of Frostburg's three-goal run in the second quarter. His second-quarter tally came off a feed from Colegrove and lifted FSU to a 5-2 lead.
Gross' third and final goal came at 10:56 in the third that gave the Bobcats a 7-4 lead. Colegrove's lone goal came a minute before Gross' score in the second quarter.
The freshmen tandem of Jake Bowling and Paul Ruppert hooked up on a goal following Gross in the third for an 8-4 Frostburg edge. Freshman Jimmy Lucas capped the third and built FSU's lead to 9-5 with an unassisted goal with six seconds left.
In the fourth, St. Mary's Ray LaPlaca scored twice as part of the hosts three-goal run. All three goals came inside the final 3:42 as the Seahawks made things interesting late. LaPlaca scored at 3:42, Brendan Steele found the net at 2:53 and LaPlaca scored again with 29 seconds left.
St. Mary's won the ensuing faceoff and Max Groen took a shot with nine seconds left that sailed wide before time expired.
Freshman keeper Jack Marks notched 14 saves for the win, while senior Kyle Horak won 7-of-18 faceoffs. The Bobcats also finished a perfect 18-of-18 on clears.
Steele paced St. Mary's with three goals, while LaPlaca added two.
