ANDERSON, S.C.--Anderson Men's Lacrosse (3-0) handed Lander (4-1) their first loss of the season in dominant fashion on Wednesday evening, defeating the Bearcats 19-10 on home turf.
"We played with a great pace tonight," said Head Coach Albert Mitchell, "and it started on the ground. The defense played a great game in the box as well. Proud of the effort."
The Trojan offense wasted no time following the opening whistle as Ryan Bitterman (Alpharetta, Ga.) snagged his first of six goals on the night just 40 seconds into the game. Not one minute later, Matthew Rodgers (Carmel, Ind.) doubled AU's advantage. The visitors bounced back, finding two of their own, before Anderson tallied three more goals to round out the first quarter with a 5-2 lead.
Trojan captains Brodie Deutsch (Wilmington, N.C.) and Brayden Bushnoe (Myrtle Beach S.C.) got on the scoresheet in Q2, adding a goal apiece. Combined with two more from Bitterman, Anderson outscored Lander 4-3 in the second quarter to hold a 9-5 advantage going into the break.
Anderson kept up the momentum following halftime, winning Q3 by a margin of 7-1. The period saw Jacob Kirchhofer (Mckinney, Texas) and Sean Archibald (Southbury, Conn.) each record their first goals of the season.
The visitors narrowly won the fourth quarter 4-3, but the Trojans handily won the game 19-10.
Nine Trojans in total recorded goals in the contest, including another six-goal performance from Bitterman and hat trick from Deutsch. Cooper Laughlin (Wooster, Ohio), Cole Sparks (West Islip, N.Y.) and Rodgers all tallied braces.
Defensively, AU collected 51 groundballs to Lander's 17 and totaled eight caused turnovers.
At the X, AJ Rush (Chantilly, Va.) and Aiden Dixon (Forest Hill, Md.) combined for 26-of-33 faceoff wins and 14 groundballs.
In goal for the Black and Gold, Adin Laughlin (Wooster, Ohio) recorded seven saves in the first three quarters, while Bobby Devenport IV (Grayslake, Ill.) earned three of his own in the fourth.
The Trojans now enter a two-game road-stretch, traveling to Montevallo on Saturday (Feb. 28) and opening SAC play at Mars Hill next Wednesday (March 4).
