Lions Remain Unbeaten with Victory over Bears

MARS HILL, N.C.-A big first quarter sparked Mars Hill to a 14-11 victory over Lenoir-Rhyne Saturday afternoon in Meares Stadium.

A seven-goal explosion in the first quarter built a lead for Lions that proved too much for the Bears to overcome. Kile Garrett paced Mars Hill's offense with a four-goal, one-assist effort for a five-point afternoon. Jimmy McBride added five points on three goals and a pair of assists. Sam Ashton paced Lenoir-Rhyne with four goals and two assists. Mars Hill improved to 3-0 with the victory, while the Bears fell to 1-3.

Ryan Herrmann tallied a team-high eight ground balls for MHC. Will Scott added three goals, while Zach Tomkinson assisted on three tallies. Patrick McMahon earned the victory in goal, making 14 saves in 58:56 of playing time.

Connor Squires, Robert Darrow and Ned Kaish added two goals apiece for L-R. Gus Ratcliff won 11-of-21 face-offs and picked up five ground balls. Steven McGhee made 10 saves in 49:09 after relieving Alex Squires.

Six different Lions scored in the opening quarter to help Mars Hill race out to the 7-0 lead. Anthony Malcolm scored both his goals in the afternoon, each unassisted. McBride, Garrett, Dan Applebaum, Scott and Ryan Sage added the other tallies in the period as the Lions held a 15-6 advantage in shots. MHC chased starting keeper Squires after scoring six times on seven shots on the netminder.

Each team scored two goals in the second quarter. McBride and Scott scored to give MHC a 9-0 lead before L-R tallied two goals in the final 40 seconds of the period. Ashton got the Bears on the board with 41 seconds to play, and Dorcy added a goal with 12 seconds remaining.

L-R grabbed the first two goals of the third quarter to cut the deficit to five and outscored MHC 4-1 in the period. Connor Squires scored both his goals in the period. MHC led 10-6 after three.

Back-to-back goals by McBride and Garrett pushed the Lions lead back to 12-6 and gave Mars Hill a bit of breathing room in the final quarter. Those were answered by goals by Ashton and Darrow to cut the Lion lead to four before Garrett scored a pair of goals to put MHC up 14-8. The Bears made a late run with a pair of even-strength goals and a goal on the man-advantage for the final margin. Jesse Mimken came off the bench to make a key save in the final minute for Mars Hill.

The Lions will host sixth-ranked Seton Hill next Saturday, Mar. 2 at 2:00 p.m. in Meares Stadium.