Men’s lacrosse team drops 12-10 decision to Concordia in home-opener

OLIVET, Mich. – The Olivet College men's lacrosse team played even with Concordia (Wis.) University for the first three quarters before falling to the Falcons, 12-10, in its home-opener this afternoon at the Cutler Athletic Complex in Olivet.

Junior Logan Krieger scored the first two Olivet goals. The first one came off a pass from senior Dakota Badder and the second off a feed from junior Nino Minaudo. Concordia made the score 2-1 on a goal at the 2:45 mark of the first quarter. Krieger completed the hat trick with his third goal of the game with 43 seconds remaining in the first period.

The Falcons leveled the score with a pair of goals in the first three minutes and two seconds of the second quarter.  Olivet responded with its own 2-0 scoring run, junior Tyler Polendo netted an unassisted tally and Minaudo scored off a pass from senior goalkeeper Ryan McGee.

The teams traded the next four goals, with Badder scoring the two Comet goals, to make the score 7-5. Concordia scored twice in the final minute of the second period to tie the game, 7-7, at halftime.

Freshman Zach Sanders put Olivet back ahead with an unassisted goal at the 13:06 mark of the third quarter. The Falcons then scored two goals to take their first lead of the game. Olivet answered with two consecutive goals – one each for freshman Bryce Drew and sophomore Nate Roberts. Concordia evened the score one more time on a goal with just 14 ticks left in the third period.

The Falcons took the lead with a goal two minutes into the fourth quarter. The Comets had four chances to score the tying goal. The first three times the shot went over the cage and the fourth one was saved by the keeper. Concordia netted an insurance goal with 3:22 remaining in the game. Olivet had a couple more chances to score but failed to do so.

For the game, Badder (two goals, one assist), Krieger (three goals) and Minaudo (one goal, two assists) each had three points. Four others scored one goal apiece. Minaudo led the way with five shots, while sophomore Cullen Haesler won five face-offs and had a team-best four ground balls. McGee made 14 saves, while playing all 60 minutes in net.

Marino Best led the way for the Falcons with five points, including game-best four goals.

Olivet will play its next three games on the road, beginning next Saturday, March 5, with a 1 p.m. game against Centre (Ky.) College.