ASHLAND, Wis. – Winners of two straight after starting the 2024 season 0-2, the University of Northwestern Men's Lacrosse team looked to continue its positive momentum Wednesday in a non-conference game at Midwest Lacrosse Conference foe Northland College. Thanks to an offensive surge to close out the second quarter, Northwestern was able to prevail by a 15-7 margin to claim its third consecutive win and improve to 3-2 on the season.
In a slow-paced opening quarter,
Christian Mitchell (Oak Grove, Minn./PACT Charter School) and
Ryan Adkins (St. Michael, Minn./St. Michael-Albertville) both scored goals to give UNW a 2-0 advantage after one. Northland scored two quick goals to open the second frame, but Mitchell found
Sam Moses (Wausau, Wis./Wausau East) for a goal to give Northwestern the lead back, which it never relinquished. Moses found the back of the cage again just 93 seconds later, then assisted on an
Austin Lemke (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Saint Croix Lutheran Academy) goal with 4:13 left in the half. Moses and Mitchell (assisted by, you guessed it, Moses) both scored in the final minute to make it five straight Northwestern goals and give the Eagles a 7-2 lead at the break.
The run continued into the third quarter as Mitchell matched Moses's hat trick just 1:43 into the third off a feed by reigning MLC Offensive Player of the Week
Khoa Vu (Shakopee, Minn./Shakopee), then Adkins (who won the Defensive Player of the Week honor on the same day) found the back of the cage seven minutes later to extend the lead to 9-2. The LumberJacks got two back within 52 seconds of each other, but Adkins's third goal and Mitchell's fourth (assisted by
Richard Hemric III (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial)) pushed the lead back to seven at 11-4 to close out the third quarter.
The Jacks scored the first goal of the final period, but the usual suspects thwarted any hope of a comeback. Moses found Mitchell for another goal at the 10-minute mark, then scored another one himself with 5:58 left.
Brenden Schuffenhauer (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) got on the board to make it 14-5 before Northland tacked on two goals to trim the deficit to seven. Moses added one more for good measure (his fifth) with 1:36 left to put an exclamation point on a 15-7 win for the Eagles.
Moses and Mitchell each scored five times for UNW, who only out-shot its opponent 40-35, but had 10 more shots on goal. Moses also added a game-high three assists and Mitchell one. Adkins added a hat trick of his own, along with a game-high 13 ground balls thanks to a 19-25 faceoff effort. Schuffenhauer and Lemke each scored once and tallied four and two ground balls, respectively. Vu and Hemric III both contributed an assist, while the latter added two ground balls.
Joseph Kalski (Oak Creek, Wis./Oak Creek) snagged three ground balls, while
Jakob Montesi (Evergreen, Colo./Evergreen) collected two and caused two turnovers.
Jared Schultz (Lino Lakes, Minn./Centennial) led the team with five caused turnovers.
Robert McHenry (Crystal, Minn./Robbinsdale Armstrong) made nine saves in cage, turning in a .563 save percentage.
Wednesday's meeting will not be the only one between these two MLC squads this season. The two will face off on April 27
th to close the regular season as well in a game that will count toward conference standings, unlike Wednesday's contest. Next up for the Eagles will be a home game on Saturday, March 23
rd against William Penn University. Face-off at Reynolds Field is scheduled for 2:00 PM.
