After a 1-4 record away from Savannah in the last 5 games the SCAD Men's Lacrosse Team will be glad to return to the home confines of the SCAD Athletics Complex for their last conference match with Georgia Southern.  The Bees were in the game with Indiana Tech, but could never draw closer than two.  The Warriors prevailed 10-7 to hand SCAD its 5th loss of the season and bring its record to 5-5.
 
Leading SCAD 3-2 at the end of the first period, Indiana Tech ran off 4 goals to SCAD's 1 before the end of the half.  The Bees found themselves down 3-7 and in a position of having to significantly improve their play both offensively and defensively if they were to contest the final outcome.
 
Coach Mike Cummings must have come up with a game plan that worked for the Bees because the third quarter found the Bees closing the gap.  Outscoring Indiana Tech 3-1 in the period brought the Bees to within 2 goals of the Warriors at 6-8.  But it was not to be.  The Warriors were able to add two more scores to SCAD's one to end the game at 10-7.
 
The Bees showed that they depend on no one individual in the scoring category when they once again spread their 7 goals among 5 players.  Combined with the assists there were 7 different players involved in the scoring.  For the second game in a row Nate Travis was one of the Bees' leaders with 2 goals.  He was equaled in this game by teammate Matt Dean.  The three remaining goals were spread among Evan Ruszala, Shawn Horsey, and Andrew Gualtieri.  All of the Bees' goals were accompanied by assists with Cody Sienkiewicz, Justin McGinnis, and Travis contributing 2 each.  Shawn Horsey helped with the remaining assist.
 
Matt Mantel contributed 18 saves for the day, which combined with yesterday's effort, gave him 42 saves over the two days.  The effort is worth noting, though it means that the opponents were constantly on the offensive. 
 
The Warriors led the Bees in many categories.  They won 13 of the 21 faceoffs, had 44 groundballs to the Bees 15, and outshot SCAD 18 to 10.  The difference was only 3 in the scoring and that is a credit to the Bees' determination.  Nevertheless, the Bees will need to take the coming week's break to re-gather and to generate a renewed determination if they are to make an impact in the post-season playoffs that begin April 25.
 
SCAD will win its division.  They are presently 2-0 with Georgia Southern remaining, but they want more than that.  They want to move on to the MCLA Nationals in May.  They need to end the regular season with some momentum. 
 
Come out and support your Bees as they finish up the 2014 regular home season with Georgia Southern on April 5 at 7 p.m.  Let's go Bees!