Box Score LISLE, Ill.--Freshman Colton Hart, sophomore Travis Fox and classmate Peyton Gasche all had four points to lead the Adrian offense, but it wasn't enough as host Benedictine (Illinois) pulled away in the fourth quarter to take a 20-13 non-conference men's lacrosse victory on Saturday afternoon in the season opener for both teams.
THE BASICS
= Final Score: Benedictine University 20, Adrian College 13
= Location: The Sports Complex; Lisle, Ill.; Weather conditions: Mostly Sunny, 53 degrees, Wind NW 12 mph
= Records: Benedictine Eagles, 1-0 overall; Adrian Bulldogs, 0-1 overall
TOP 'DAWGS
= Sophomore Max Leventis won 18 of 35 face-offs at the "X" and had team-best five ground balls.
= Hart scored four goals in his collegiate debut and Fox matched him for the team lead with four goals.
= Gasche, a sophomore, also had four points on two goals and two assists.
= Classmate Christian Aurand tied Leventis for the team lead with five ground balls.
THE OPPOSITION
= Joe Spahn tallied a game-high six goals and Nic Perkins added five.
= Colin Domek (3g, 1a) and Anthony Leahy (2g, 2a) both chipped in four points.
= Mateo Salceda won 17 of 33 face-offs and had a game-high 14 ground balls.
HOW IT HAPPENED
= Adrian pulled within 14-12 on Fox's goal with 4 minutes and 41 seconds left in the third quarter, but Benedictine ended the final 26:19 on a 6-1 run to earn the seven-goal win
= The Bulldogs held first-quarter leads of 3-2, 4-3 and 5-4. Hart had two goals during the stanza.
= In the second quarter, sophomore Chris French put AC up 6-4 at the 12:48 mark before the Eagles scored five unanswered goals and eight of nine to go up 12-7 with 4:37 remaining.
= The home team led 13-10 at halftime and 17-12 through three quarters, never giving up the lead after seeing Adrian take its biggest lead of two goals.
= Aurora also had statistical advantages in ground balls (38-26), turnovers (18-23), shots (40-32) and shots on goal (30-21).
= Adrian converted 3-of-7 man-up opportunities while the Eagles scored on their only opportunity.
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
= This was the first meeting between the programs.
= The Eagles compete in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference--the Bulldogs' former home where they won three straight championships from 2010 to 2012 by winning 23 MLC games in a row.
UP NEXT
= Adrian will have its "home" opener next Saturday (5 p.m.) against non-conference foe Hiram. The game is being moved from Kapnick Field at Docking Stadium in Adrian to the Detroit Country Day School campus in Beverly Hills, Mich., to accommodate locker room space for the NCAA Division III Men's Wrestling Central Region Championships hosted by the Bulldogs.
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