FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State Men's Lacrosse team defeated Roberts Wesleyan with a final score of 18-16 at home on Saturday afternoon in their regular season finale.
Before the game, Frostburg honored their 11 seniors, Chase Buckwalter, Owen McCallum, Dominic Ceresini, Rob Tarver, Jake Bowman, Warren Evans, Bubba Love, Mitch Meckley, Jake Sprecker, Matt Begley, and Justin Hulse.
To open the game, Roberts Wesleyan scored back-to-back goals to give them an early 2-0 lead. A few minutes down the stretch, Meckley made a save which led to a successful clear attempt for FSU, allowing McCallum to score the first goal of the day for the Bobcats. Redshirt senior Tanner Donaldson tied the game just over a minute later, on an assist from Buckwalter. Frostburg took the lead in the eighth minute of the first, as McCallum found himself with another goal, off a dish from Love for a 3-2 game. RWU would get that goal back quickly, tying the game up once more, this time at 3-3. FSU was able to put three more into the back of the net to end the first, with Bowman, sophomore Cole Blanche, and junior Austin Sipes all knotting their first of the day for a 6-3 Bobcat lead after one.
The Red Hawks opened scoring in the second, bringing the game to 6-4, exactly two minutes into the frame. RWU kept that momentum, tying the game up at six apiece with 5:41 left in the first half. Love found Bowman for the only Bobcat goal of the second, allowing Frostburg to take a 7-6 lead heading into the break.
FSU turned on the gas in the third, scoring the first three goals of the second half. Bowman tallied his second goal of the day within the first two minutes of the half, with Love tallying his first of the day just five minutes later for a 9-6 lead. McCallum went on to tally his hat-trick, knotting the Bobcats tenth goal of the day. The Red Hawks found the back of the net off a turnover at the 5:42 mark, to bring the game to 10-7. Creating a bigger scoring deficit, FSU added back-to-back goals to end the third, with junior Parker Masters and sophomore Seamus Kearney scoring their firsts. RWU added one more goal to their score in the last two minutes of the quarter, to bring the game to 12-8 heading into the fourth.
Both teams traded goals to start the final quarter, with Blanche scoring the first just under two minutes in, and the Red Hawks connecting just over 30 seconds later. Sipes and Donaldson went on to score back-to-back goals for FSU, increasing their lead to 15-9 with 8:43 left to play. RWU got one back on a man-up opportunity, before Frostburg scored two more, coming from Bowman and Hulse, for a 17-10 game. The Red Hawks quickly scored another before Sipes would score one more as well, on another assist from Bowman. With an 18-12 game and 2:44 left, RWU would go on a scoring run to get within two, but would run out of time as Frostburg took the 18-16 victory.
Bowman and Love led the way for on offense with six points each, with Bowman finishing with four goals and two assists, and Love finishing with one goal and five assists. McCallum and Sipes both knotted hat-tricks with three goals apiece, with Sipes also tallying an assist. Meckley made a total six saves in goal.
With the win, FSU finishes the regular season 12-4, while Roberts Wesleyan finishes 9-4. Frostburg sits at the No. 2 seed in the ECC, as they will host Roberts Wesleyan once more, on Wednesday, May 3 at 4 PM for the first round of the ECC tournament. For more information visit frostburgsports.com.
