Mars Hill drops eighth straight, fall to Queens

CHARLOTTE, N.C. - The Mars Hill (1-11, 0-6 SAC) men's lacrosse team was felled by Queens (6-5, 3-2 SAC) by a score of 19-7 on the road Saturday afternoon.

The Royals opened the game outscoring the Lions 7-1 after the first fifteen minutes of play. Just 1:47 into the contest, Jesse Oliver put Queens up 1-0 and just shy of seven minutes later, Jake Trafton would tie the game. Seven seconds after Mars Hill's tying tally, Griffin Stechmiller helped Queens retake the lead and start a 10-goal run for the Royals that would carry over into the second quarter. Oliver and Kealan Pilon each had two goals in the stretch.

Trailing 11-1 with under three minutes left to go in the opening half, the Lions struck twice to pull within eight. Alex Lipsky and Connor Fernandes were the goal scorers. Dima Ferreira, who assisted on the Trafton marker, picked up his second assist of the game on Fernandes' goal.

Queens dictated play in the third, scoring the first four goals of the stanza, including another two tallies from Pilon and a man-advantage goal from Oliver. Spencer Andrews scored with one second remaining in the penultimate frame for the Lions' fourth goal of the contest.

Both teams traded goals in the fourth quarter. Trafton, Fernandes and Andrews scored the three goals for the Lions while Reed Murphy, Max Morgan, Laszlo Henning and Jake Coleman struck for the Royals.

The Lions had four players with two points in the contest with Trafton, Fernandes and Andrews each scoring two goals. Ferreira ended the game with two assists. Pilon (4g, 1a) led all players with five points followed by Oliver (3g) and Murphy's (1g, 2a) three point performances.

Anthony Valenza earned his fifth win of the year making 10 saves. Ryan Kearney suffered the loss, stopping 14 shots.

Mars Hill returns to the Ammons Family Athletic Center and Meares Stadium for Senior Day on Saturday, April 14 versus No. 3 ranked Lenoir-Rhyne. Action is slated for a 2 p.m. start.