Riverhawks Men's Lacrosse Defeat Mercer, 14-12, for First Win of Season

The Details

            Final Score: Riverhawks 14, Mercer Vikings 12

            Updated Records: AACC 1-2 overall, Mercer 2-2 overall

            Location: Siegert Field

            Box Score: Found here

            Media Gallery:

Game Notes

            The Riverhawks men's lacrosse team picked up their first win this past Saturday afternoon (3/9), defeating the Vikings of Mercer County Community College, 12-14.

            Facing off, freshman Chris Greenstein (Glen Burnie, MD/Old Mill), has a tough task ahead and he proved to be more than ready, winning 17-25 face offs. The Riverhawks would go up 0-4, with goals by four different Riverhawks, before the Vikings would get their first goal with 2 minutes remaining in the first period. By the time the horn sounded, the Riverhawks lead was cut in half and the period ended at 2 goals to four.

            AACC would come right out and begin the attack at the start of the second period with a goal from Patrick McKinley (Gambrills, MD/St. Vincent Pallotti), assisted by Caden Cote (Crownsville, MD/Old Mill) to give the Riverhawks a 2-5 lead. The Vikings would not be denied, however, battling back to within one goal, before Ethan Gaeng (Crofton, MD/St. Mary's) and Stephen Moheiser (Annapolis, MD/Annapolis) would get their 2nd goals of the game while Caleb Nash (Annapolis, MD/Annapolis) would earn his second assist. The second period would see both teams battling back and forth and the half would end with a 7-8 Riverhawks lead.

           Spectators were given quite the showdown over the next few minutes of play, as each team would continue to push on offense and stay aggressive on defense. Capitalizing on the man-up opportunities in the third quarter, Mercer would continue to stay in the game until late in the third when AACC would again begin to find the back of the net and stretch the lead to three at the end of the third period, 8-11.

            As the game came down to the last 15 minutes of play of the 4^th quarter, the Riverhawks would score three more goals to take a five point lead (9 - 14) and seemingly have the game in hand. However, the Vikings refused to give up and fought their way back into the game to come within two goals. Maintaining their composure to finish the game, the Riverhawks were able to hold on with the help of two saves by Greg Connelly (Haddonfield, NJ/Haddonfield Memorial) allowing the Riverhawks to secure their first home victory of the season by a score of 12-14.

            Conor Mackrell (Milliersville, MD/Annapolis Area Christian) and Gaeng would finish with three goals each while Cote would end the game with 3 goals and 4 assists. Rashaan Johnson (Glen Burnie, MD/Old Mill) and Moheiser would each contribute two goals apiece.

 Up Next

            The Riverhawks will travel to Toms River, NJ to face more Vikings, this time the Vikings of Ocean County College on Wednesday March 20^th for another non-conference match-up. Face-off is set for 3:00 pm.

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