FULTON, Mo. - In arguably the biggest game of the season for William Woods Men's Lacrosse and with a third place Heart finish on the line, the Owls were matched up with their Mid-Mo neighbor, the Columbia College Cougars. Despite a late surge in the fourth quarter, WWU dropped the contest to CC by a score of 10-9.
It was a long, long time before either team was able to net an initial shot. After some back and forth, the Cougars found success first, notching their earliest score at the 2:19 mark of the first quarter. The Owls would respond as time wound down, with
Ethan NewMyer scoring his 33rd goal of the season after taking the ball from the corner off a missed shot and working around the defense to score. With just three seconds remaining, the teams' totals would be at an even at 1-1.
Quarter two was a much different story than its predecessor. Columbia netted goals two and three within two and a half minutes of play, and added a fourth with just under seven minutes to go.
Collis Rhodes and NewMyer would each tally an unassisted goal to close the gap, before the Cougars extended it further with another pair of scores, entering the break with a 6-3 lead.
NewMyer opened up quarter three with his third goal of the night and another hat trick for the senior's successful final season, this time with the assist from
Joey Weingardt. As was the theme of the game, CC would respond with a goal, leading to the young attacker himself, Weingardt, rolling the ball underneath the goalie for another Woods score from the pass by
Xavier Dockery. Each team would score another time this period, with Rhodes putting the Owls within two points as the final period of play began.
With game and season on the line, it seemed Columbia would seal their fate early, scoring twice within the first two minutes of quarter four, making their lead sit at four. However, they would fail to net another goal in the contest. It would be one of two men on a mission to lead the final surge for William Woods, Rhodes, that created the momentum for the green and white. In a man up situation,
Connor White was able to dish the ball to Rhodes for an excellent shot that streaked past the keeper. Then, just minutes later, Rhodes scored another goal to bring WWU back within two. The other half of the dynamic offensive attack, NewMyer, matched Rhodes with a fourth goal just under three minutes to play. Unfortunately, with the ball in hand for the final 40 seconds, the Owls were unable to score again, falling just short in a devastating 10-9 loss.
NeMyer and Rhodes each tallied four goals, with the latter adding an assist as well. Rhodes also caused two turnovers in the match, as did
Wyatt Robbins. Despite the 15 save effort,
Drew Stubblefield was given the loss in the cage.
With a loss, the Owls fall to 7-8 on the season and 6-3 in the Heart standings, marking a fifth place finish. As William Penn, Columbia, and St. Ambrose each hold a 7-2 conference record and a tie breaker over each other, the site and opponent for Saturday's round one conference tournament contest is yet to be declared. Stay connected at wwuowls.com to find out where the squad is headed this weekend.
