SAINT LEO, Fla.- The Queens men's lacrosse team fell in a 10-9 thriller that wasn't decided until the last minute of play. Queens drops to 2-3 on the year while opponent Saint Leo improves to 4-1.
Queens put up the first goal of the game with an unassisted shot from Travis Speer (Newtown, Conn., Newton ). The Lions countered with one of their own, but Speer again scored unassisted to give Queens the 2-1 lead. The first quarter ended with the teams tied at two.
The Royals again opened the quarter with a goal, this time from Stephan LeBlanc (Restoule, Ontario, Highland), to take a 3-2 lead. The home team did not take trailing lightly and scored four goals in a seven minute span to lead the Royals 6-3. Alex Wesenberg (Bloominton, Minn., Jefferson) pulled the blue and white within two just before the half expired.
After the 10-goal barrage from the first half, the teams would only put the ball into the back of the net three times each in the third quarter.
The Lions would get an early goal in the third that would be answered by the Royals just 23 seconds later with a strike by LeBlanc. The Lions netted one at 11:11, and Queens doubled-up the Lions for the remainder of the quarter, getting goals just two-minutes apart and drawing to within a goal, but Benjamin Brigham finished the quarter like he started it, with a goal at the 2:48 mark to put SLU up 9-7.
The fourth quarter would be dominated by aggressive play and more penalties by both teams. Queens held the Lions to just one goal in the fourth and put pressure on the defense. LeBlanc scored his fourth and fifth goals to try and spark a Royals comeback, but the clock ran out just before the team could tie the contest up at 10.
Queens goalie Brandon Macknew (Abington, Md., Bel Air) posted 14 saves on 36 Saint Leo shots and Lions goalie David Erdman finished the night with 12 saves on 26 shots.
LeBlanc led the Royals offense with five goals and one assist. On defense Hunter Roof (Prince Frederick, Md., Calverton)had five ground balls.
Brigham posted the hat-trick for the Lions.
