LEAVENWORTH, Kan. – Midland University’s men’s lacrosse continued its Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference (KCAC) play Thursday night with a road contest against the University of Saint Mary (USM). Coming off of two consecutive losses, the Warriors were motivated to get back in the win column and they did just that with a 13-4 victory against the Spires.
Carson Meier immediately made his impact on the game as he earned the teams’ quickest hat-trick of the season. He scored the game’s opening three goals, within the first nine minutes.
Nick Crociata pushed the Warriors’ lead to 4-0 with a goal just before the buzzer to end the first quarter.
In the second quarter, Meier scored and assisted on another that Marty Gospodarski put away. Crociata scored again before the Spires finally got on the board with a goal 18 seconds before halftime, trailing 7-1.
Gage Gonzales scored his first goal of the season in the third quarter and two Warriors’ power-play goals carried Midland to a 10-2 lead at the end of the quarter.
Saint Mary was able to score twice in the final quarter, but three more Warriors’ goals kept the Spires at bay and sealed the Midland victory.
Head coach Billy Dineen found great joy in winning on the same field that he competed on during his collegiate career. “I’m proud of the guys for winning at my alma mater, that’s a really good feeling,” said Coach Dineen. “We came together as a team to get the win and that’s all that matters.”
While at USM, Coach Dineen was a two-time all-conference performer, helped the Spires to a national tournament bid as a junior. He led the team in goals and assists as a senior.
Midland (3-3, 2-2 KCAC) moves to .500 both on the season and in conference play with six regular-season games remaining. Next up for the Warriors is a road trip to Marshall, Missouri to face Missouri Valley (0-1, 0-1 KCAC). Face-off is set for 7:00 p.m. on Friday, March 18 at Gregg-Mitchell Field.
Courtesy of MidlandAthletics.com
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