MONTEVALLO, Ala.--Anderson Men's Lacrosse moved to 4-0 on the season with a 22-16 road win at Montevallo (3-4) on Saturday afternoon.
"Great battle today," said Head Coach Albert Mitchell. "We knew we were walking into a really tough environment against a really fast and physical team, and we battled for 60. It started at the faceoff, and we had some guys really step up when their number was called. Proud of how we responded in the 2nd half."
The Falcons opened the scoring, picking up two goals in the first minute of the game, before AU got on the board with Radyn Badraun (Mission Viejo, Calif.) scoring his first of five goals on the day off a pass from Matthew Rodgers (Carmel, Ind.).
Joining Badraun with goals in the first were Cole Sparks (West Islip, N.Y.), Connor Neal (Isle of Palms, S.C.) and Brodie Deutsch (Wilmington, N.C.). The contest was level at 5-5 following the opening 15.
Ryan Bitterman (Alpharetta, Ga.), Noah Steinbrecher (Buford, Ga.) and Cooper Laughlin (Wooster, Ohio) each got on the scoresheet in Q2, though UM took a slight 10-9 advantage into halftime.
The third quarter saw both sides string together a series of consecutive goals, starting with AJ Rush (Chantilly, Va.) winning the half's opening faceoff and going directly to snag his second goal of the season. Bitterman and Badraun made it three-straight for AU, before the Falcons responded with four-straight to retake the lead.
Sammy Lewis (Maple Grove, Minn.) connected with Sean Archibald (Southbury, Conn.) to pivot the game's momentum back in favor of the Trojans. The second half of Q3 saw Anderson outscore Montevallo 4-1.
Following the trend of previous games this year, the Black and Gold dominated the final 15. Anderson closed out the game with eight-straight goals, including the first on the day from Archibald, Kai Wasielewski (Timonium, Md.) and Brayden Bushnoe (Myrtle Beach, S.C.).
The Trojans return to South Carolina with a comfortable 22-16 victory.
For the second game in a row, Anderson boasted more than 70 shots, with a season-high 45 shots coming on frame. The Trojans also earned season-high tallies in goals, assists and points.
Defensively, Chris Czulada (Boynton Beach, Fla.) and Diego Lopez (Aliso Viejo, Calif.) both recorded their best statistical performances this season, with Czualda recording four CTOs and six GBs while Lopez had three CTOs and five GBs. As a team, Anderson totaled 64 groundballs and 17 caused turnovers—the best totals for both so far this season.
Rush and Aiden Dixon (Forest Hill, Md.) again dominated the faceoff stats, winning 30-of-41 from the X and combining for 20 GBs.
In goal, Adin Laughlin (Wooster, Ohio) boasted 13 saves for his third double-digit save count so far this season. He also collected four GBs.
The Trojans stay on the road to open league play next Wednesday (March 4) at Mars Hill, before returning home on Saturday (March 7) to host No. 2 Tampa.
