SMU dominates Texas A & M Universityfor the second year in a row.
The fifth annual Patriot Cup was held in Ford Stadium Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
This lacrosse tournament hosted Division I school Dartmouth and Sacred Heart, as well as MCLA clubs including Lone Star Alliance members SMU, TCU, Texas A&M; and Texas Tech.
The event is held to raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project.
SMU performed well in their matchup, defeating the Texas A&M; Aggies 20-8.
The game was decided immediately after the first whistle, according to senior midfielder Cole Sisto.
“We knew we were the better team. Once the first goal went in, we knew we had it in the bag.”
Sisto, along with attackmen Matt Murphy, Schuyler Grey and Connor Wasson let shots pour down on Aggie goalie Chase Stanford, who was under fire most of the night.
Much like the other contests SMU has been in this year, the offense possessed the ball for so long that the defense was
rarely tested.
The Mustang goalies Adam Connolly and Bennett Riefstahl spent most of the time watching the game as spectators, which is why the few times the Aggies attacked they were met with success. The defense was heavily penalized, which led to a bevy of Aggie man-up goals.
“The defense needs to start playing with their heads a little bit,” SMU head coach Karl Lynch said. “That was way too many penalties.”
The Mustangs remain undefeated with a 6-0 record going into the second half of
the season.
The second half wont be nearly the cakewalk the first half has been.
For spring sreak, the Mustangs are taking a working vacation in California, where they will play No. 13 Cal State Poly San Luis Obispo, Chico State and Santa Clara.
Later in the season, the Mustangs will match up against Texas State and Texas Christian, and will liekly play the Texas Longhorns in the LSA conference playoffs.
The noon game, between Division I schools Dartmouth College and Sacred Heart University was a bit more exciting than the SMU Texas A&M; matchup, but ended with a decisive 14-10 score in Dartmouth’s favor.
Coming into the contest in Dallas, both teams had dropped their first two games.
The teams are considered two of the weakest in NCAA Division I, according to laxpower.com, and were hungry for a win.
Dartmouth drew first blood: scoring twice in the opening minutes to assert themselves on the field.
Sacred Heart, who showed up mentally a couple of minutes late to the game, managed to retort with a Jerome Rigor goal immediately after Cam Lee scored his first on the day for the Big Green of Dartmouth.
As the end of the first half drew near, the Sacred Heart Pioneers were down 4-3, but scored in rapid succession with less than a minute left to go in ahead at the half.
Dartmouth’s scoring machine went into overdrive in the fourth quarter, as Sacred Heart got more desperate to even the score and send the game into overtime.
This allowed Dartmouth to counterattack effectively and put themselves ahead by the final whistle.
The final game of the evening was the Texas Tech, Texas Christian matchup.
The Red Raiders started quickly out of the gate.
They scored twice in quick succession against a hazy TCU defense, which was still trying to find its footing after the first faceoff.
“We came out in the first quarter real sloppy,” TCU attackman Campbell Puckett said. “No one had their head in the game.”
When the half ended, the Red Raiders were in a 4-4 tie with TCU.
The TCU defense, especially the play of the first-year goalie Austin Birch kept the Red Raiders from running away with game in the first half while the attack regrouped.
The second half may as well have been another game entirely; Puckett, Dean Dillenburg and Christian Wendlant led an unrelenting chorus of shots on goal, which eventually overwhelmed Tech goalkeeper and mustache aficionado Burnett Jameson, who conceded six goals in the second half.
“We mixed up a couple of things at the attack, moved some guys around to try some different matchups,” Horned Frogs Head Coach Cosey Carlisle said after the game. “Our guys really stepped it up in the third quarter and were able to keep the pedal to the metal through the rest of the game.”
The Horned Frogs’ defense did not concede a single goal in the second half of play.
Coming out of the weekend, TCU and the Mustangs are the strongest contenders for the LSA North title, and will play one another Friday, April 4 at Texas Christian.
