By Corey Hersch
It’s been rough sledding for the Quinnipiac Bobcats men’s lacrosse team of late. After winning their first game against Wagner 15-4, the Bobcats went on the road, losing all four games on its trip. They returned home and lost to Air Force, then went back on the road and fell to Providence. Sunday, though, Quinnipiac made the five-game skid a thing of the past.
Going up against The University of Detroit Mercy Titans, it was all Bobcats for the entire game. Quinnipiac opened up the contest by scoring the first nine goals. By the time Michael Schumaker scored for Titans with 0:55 remaining in the second quarter, the game was already in hand. When the final buzzer sounded, it was 15-4 Bobcats. With the win, the Bobcats improve to 2-5 on the season, while the Titans fell to 0-7.
Kevin Kelly opened up the scoring for the Bobcats, scoring two goals in the first two minutes of the game. The second was a beautiful goal where he cut across the field to the left of the goal and unleashed a shot from behind his head to beat goalie Vince Diana.
Ted Dimond, a sophomore attacker, led the way for the Bobcats, scoring three goals and adding two assists. His first assist was a great tic-tac pass from the left side of the net to find a wide open Garrett Kerr for the score. All told, 11 different players saw their shots hit the back of the net for the Quinnipiac.
The Bobcats had a 57-38 edge in ground balls, a statistic that had been stressed throughout practices this week.
“Statistics have been that we’ve lost most games in the ground ball category,” Dimond said. “Usually when you end up with the most ground balls, you end up winning the game.”
The Bobcats will now begin conference play in the Great Western Lacrosse League, starting with a matchup against Ohio State on March 28. Bobcats head coach Eric Fekete knows that this conference is not one to be taken lightly.
“The GWLL was the best league in the country last year, with Ohio State, Notre Dame, and Denver all going to the NCAA tournament out of our playoffs,” Fekete said. “ So, I think the goal has always been from there to make it a two game situation [in the GWLL playoffs].”
Dimond also noted how important it was to come out on top in the GWLL this year, with Quinnipiac joining the NEC for men’s lacrosse next year.
“It would be awesome to go out and win the last tournament,” Dimond said. “It would be great just for Quinnipiac and for everybody on our team.”
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