Long Stick middle player Taylor Harbison of the SMU Lacrosse team scoops up a stolen ball against Texas A&M Saturday during the Patriot Cup at Ford Stadium. (Michael Danser/The Daily Campus)

Over the weekend, SMU men’s lacrosse participated in the Patriot Cup, a weeklong tournament which features high school and college games and exhibitions. The Patriot Cup is an annual event that benefits the Wounded Warrior Project, a non-profit organization committed to assisting soldiers who have been injured during service in the Middle East. The Mustangs braved the snow to take on the Texas A&M Aggies, losing 8-5.
SMU has never beaten A&M in previous games and although Saturday’s match was not a win, their defensive had A&M on the run most of the game.
The game began with senior Colin Ward immediately clearing the ball and scoring, putting SMU up 1-0, less than a minute into the game.
A&M answered with two goals in the first quarter, met by another goal from SMU, putting the score at 2-2 going into the second period.
Colin Ward repeated his performance from the first period in the second, putting the score at 3-2. Again, the Aggies answered with two points. The second of their goals was the second goal of what would prove to be a five-goal game for A&M’s Ben King. Going into halftime, SMU was down 4-3.
The Aggies came out strong in the second half, keeping the ball in SMU’s end for the beginning of the third period.
SMU finally gained possession with a little over 10 minutes on the clock, but A&M was able to steal the ball and King scored his third goal of the game, putting them up 5-3.
Possession went back and forth, with fouls on both teams. The score going into the final period was 7-4, after SMU’s Matt Pierson scored with just over a minute left.
The final quarter had the strongest defensive play for both teams, as they were only allowed one successful shot on goal each. The Mustang offense had plenty of shots on goal, with most of them just barely missing.
“We had a lot of key players out on injury,” coach Alex Poole said. “We had a lot of shots on goal, they just weren’t going in.” 
Men’s Lacrosse looks forward to their match at 7:30 p.m. this Friday against Auburn University in Atlanta, GA.