No. 5 Spartans Tame Mavericks In Weekend Showdown
March 12, 2016

No. 5 Spartans Tame Mavericks In Weekend Showdown

The No. 5 Tampa Spartans men's lacrosse team knocked off the Colorado Mesa Mavericks by a score of 12-7 Saturday night, thanks to a total team effort.

TAMPA, Fla. - The No. 5 University of Tampa men's lacrosse team extended its win streak to three, as the Spartans knocked off the Colorado Mesa Mavericks Saturday night, at the Naimoli Family Athletic Complex by a score of 12-7.


Offensively, Tampa just edged their opponent in the shots category 38-37 and posted a shooting percentage of 68.4. UT provided a balanced attack as seven different players found the back of the net.  

 

The spark for the offense was Matt Bilak as he notched a hat-trick bringing his season goal total up to eight. Freshman phenom Andrew Kew, and senior attacker Jake Schmidt would each tally two goals in the game bringing them to 27 and 12 goals respectively to this point in the campaign.

 

Serving as the catalyst for the offense was Tampa's point leader Conor Whipple dishing out four assists and registering two goals of his own, giving him 18 assists and 19 goals for a total of 37 points to his credit thus far, putting him on pace to finish his junior campaign with 74 points.


Defensively the Spartans won the battle in ground balls 28-24 and forced eight caused turnovers to the Mavericks four. Stepping up big on the defensive end was Charlie Cummins, who scooped up four groundballs and had two caused turnovers in the contest. Also playing stout defense were Marty Heyn and Luke Posner, who forced two caused turnovers and hauled in two groundballs apiece. 


Picking up the win, and putting on a clinic in net, was A.J. Arnold as he improved to 3-0 on the season. The junior netminder posted a 66.7 save percentage hauling in 14 saves on 21 shots faced. 


At the Faceoff X Tampa would take 14 of 22 from Colorado Mesa, thanks to a combined effort from Alex Patton and Noah Menendez, Menendez played a big part as the Tampa native converted at a 71.4 rate winning five of his seven attempts.


Following the victory, UT improves to 6-1 on the season, and heading in the opposite direction CMU falls to 1-2 on the campaign.


 The No. 5 Spartans return to action Saturday, March 19, as they hit the road traveling to Boca Raton, Fla. to square off with the Lynn Fighting Knights. Game time is set for 5 P.M. Live stats will be available for fans to follow the action via TampaSpartans.com.


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