ANNVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley men's lacrosse team used a team effort to defeat Goucher College 15-10 on Saturday afternoon at Arnold Field for the team's third consecutive win.
 
LVC (3-1) won the opening face-off and took a pair of shots in the opening minute as Ryan Grace sent a shot wide, and then Hayden Carling had a shot saved. The Gophers (0-4) were able to score on their first offensive possession off a rebound on a save by Kellen Markley. The Dutchmen responded with three goals over the next three minutes. Dylan Rinyak evened the score with his third goal of the season. Ethan Keenan scored a man-up goal 19 seconds into an extra-man opportunity off an assist from Grace. Carling then found Grace open for his first goal of the game to give the Dutchmen a 3-1 advantage five minutes in.
 
Goucher called a timeout and answered LVC's run with two goals over the next five minutes to even the score. Rowan Myers hit Sean Poole for the go-ahead goal with 4:44 on the clock. Grace found the back of the net for a second time off a nice pass from Branden Manderbach. Keenan gave LVC a 6-3 lead after one with his second goal of the game off a pass from Poole with 11 seconds left.
 
The Dutchmen started the second quarter with the ball as Carling sent a shot wide, and then Grace had a shot blocked. Markley came up with two big saves at the other end before the Dutchmen took advantage of another extra-man opportunity, with Rinyak finding the back of the net 17 seconds into the opportunity off an assist from Carling. Myers added an unassisted goal less than a minute later to put LVC up 8-3 with 10 minutes remaining in the half.
 
LVC held possession most of the time over the next six minutes, but could not add to its lead until Carling scored out of a Dutchmen timeout off an assist from Myers with 4:11 to play. The Gophers stopped the Dutchmen's six-goal scoring streak with a goal in the final minute of the half to cut the deficit to 9-4.
 
Myers began the second half scoring with his second goal of the game a couple of minutes into the quarter. Goucher answered right back with a goal a little over 20 seconds later. Connor Rowe continued his strong play of face-offs as he picked up the ground ball and took a shot that was saved. Myers picked up the rebound before Rinyak had a shot saved. The Dutchmen were able to increase the advantage to six as Grace completed his hat trick with a strong move from behind the net with nine minutes left in the quarter.
 
The Gophers were able to score a little over 30 seconds later to get the deficit back down to five at 11-6. Goucher forced a turnover after Rowe won another face-off and picked up the ground ball. Goucher put three shots wide before being called for another penalty. Rinyak and Carling put shots wide on the extra-man opportunity, while Poole and Carling had shots saved. The Dutchmen put a lot of pressure on the goal late in the quarter as Grace, Jacob Olson, and Jacob Mrose put shots off target. Myers hit the post with 30 seconds left before Grace found Wyatt Shamer for his second goal of the year with nine seconds remaining.
 
The Dutchmen started the fourth quarter with a man-advantage due to an early penalty. Grace found Keenan over the middle 12 seconds into the opportunity to put LVC up 13-6. The Gophers responded with a goal a minute later. Goucher added two more goals over the next four minutes to cut the deficit to 13-9 with just under 10 minutes left to play.
 
Keenan scored his fourth goal of the game with 8:17 left, off another assist by Grace to stop the comeback attempt. Goucher scored with just under seven minutes to play. Markley made a pair of saves as Goucher battled to cut the deficit even more. The Dutchmen cleared the ball and put the game away as Carling scored with four minutes left off an assist by Grace. LVC held the Gophers off the board the rest of the way as they ran out the clock for the third consecutive win.
 
Inside the Box

• Grace led the squad with eight points on three goals and five assists. The sophomore has scored at least two goals in all four games this year and has 12 total goals. His five assists were a career high.
• Keenan scored a career-high four goals for the second consecutive year against Goucher. He recorded the 50th point of his career in the game. He also caused two turnovers.
• Carling and Myers recorded four points on two goals and two assists each. Carling has recorded multi-point games in all four games this season, while Myers has scored in all four games.
• Rowe was dominant on face-offs with 21 wins on 29 attempts and picked up a game-high 11 ground balls.
• Rinyak scored two goals on nine shots. Montgomery Sensenig had five ground balls.
• The Dutchmen held a 58-34 shot advantage, including a 36-22 advantage in shots on goal.
• LVC was 16-19 on clear attempts and was 3-5 on extra-man opportunities. The Dutchmen picked up a season-high 39 ground balls.

Up Next
Lebanon Valley will be back on Arnold Field next Saturday, March 7, as they host Wilkes University at 1 p.m. in another non-conference battle.

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