BLOOMINGTON, ILL. – The University of Northwestern St. Paul Men's Lacrosse team battled the Illinois Wesleyan University Titans in the Eagles' first NCAA National Tournament game in program history on Friday afternoon. The Eagles scored eight goals in the contest, but ultimately fell 30-8 to the Titans.
Chase Marlenee (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) scored the first NCAA Tournament goal in program history four minutes into the game, overcoming a man-down disadvantage to even the score at 1-1. The senior scored twice more in the first half to net a hat trick for Northwestern.
The second and third goal for Marlenee were scored back-to-back one minute and 22 seconds apart.
Mat Anderson (Little Canada, Minn./Roseville) followed up Marlenee's third goal with one of his own 58 seconds afterwards to score the fourth UNW goal of the opening half.
Noah Vander Kooi (Buffalo, Minn./Buffalo) scored the fifth UNW goal of the game early in the second half.
With 3:44 remaining in the third quarter, Marlenee found the back of the net once more to score his team-leading fourth goal of the game. The goal was his team-leading 49
th of the season for the senior.
A minute-and-a-half after Marlenee's fourth and final goal, Vander Kooi capitalized on a man-up opportunity to net his second of the day in an unassisted effort.
Keller Stephens (Lino Lakes, Minn./Mounds View) scored the final goal of the game and season for the Eagles just over a minute into the fourth quarter.
On defense,
Peyton LaMere (Holmen, Wis./Holmen) led Northwestern with three caused turnovers in the game.
Christoph Tisdale (Northfield, Minn./Northfield) had a team-high seen ground balls with 16 saves in goal.
Brenden Schuffenhauer (Circle Pines, Minn./Centennial) led UNW in faceoffs, winning 11 of his battles.
Northwestern won their first regular season and tournament conference championships in 2021, and now having experienced the NCAA Tournament for the first time, the Eagles will look to soar to even greater heights next year.
