The Quinnipiac men’s lacrosse team fell to Sacred Heart on Saturday, as the Pioneers jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, cruising to a 12-7 victory.
Sacred Heart scored nine goals in the first half and kept the Bobcats at-bay despite a late fourth-quarter rally. Quinnipiac cut the deficit to four in the final minutes but couldn’t complete the comeback.
“Not the best start we got off to. Unfortunately, kind of the trend this year,” Quinnipiac head coach Mason Poli said, “Trouble finding the back of the net and kind of played a little tight rather than playing loose.”
Both teams played physically out of the gate, with no goals scored in the first six minutes. Sacred Heart’s John Murray broke the ice, slipping a shot past senior Mason Oak to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead. Declan Wilkie added another less than a minute later, making it 2-0.
Quinnipiac struggled offensively early on, managing just two shots on goal in the first 11 minutes.
Following a slashing penalty on Ryan Downing, Murray scored his second goal to put Sacred Heart up 3-0. Tucker Spencer capped off the first quarter with another goal, extending the lead to 4-0.
The Bobcats responded quickly in the second quarter, as Nick Meoni scored off the faceoff just 13 seconds in. But Sacred Heart answered right back with a goal from Luke Romanek seven seconds later. Jake Ward followed with another score, prompting a Quinnipiac timeout.
The Pioneers finished the first half on a 5-0 run, taking a 9-1 lead into the break.
Meoni opened the third quarter with his second goal of the game to make it 9-2, but Murray quickly answered again for Sacred Heart, completing his hat trick. Both teams locked down defensively for the rest of the quarter, which ended 10-2.
Quinnipiac came out strong in the fourth. Ryan Goodman scored just 40 seconds in, followed by goals from Aiden Whitehouse and Nate Watson within 11 seconds, cutting the deficit to 11-5 and forcing a Pioneers timeout. Goodman added another at the 9:53 mark to make it a 4-0 run for the Bobcats.
With over eight minutes to play, Justin Robert scored to bring Quinnipiac within four, the closest margin since early in the second quarter.
However, a midfield turnover led to an easy goal for Sacred Heart’s Tommy Bull, putting the game out of reach at 12-7. A few missed opportunities in the closing minutes sealed Quinnipiac’s fate.
Oak finished with 18 saves for the Bobcats.
Quinnipiac remains in the hunt for a spot in the MAAC Tournament, where only the top six teams qualify.
“Usually the back end of that playoff bracket, those 4, 5 and 6 spots, are really tight,” Poli said, “If you’re .500, you’re in, or at least giving yourself a chance. So we’ll try to keep it in our control, and then we can go out and finish.”
Quinnipiac returns to action next Saturday at Siena.
