Memphis Standard

Heading into the Rhodes Men's Lacrosse home opener on Saturday, February 25, the Memphis area experienced a weather front accompanied by plenty of cold rain as the temperature hovered around 45° for a 1pm faceoff to kick things off. When the horn blew, the Lynx did not have any rain on their parade as they rolled into a 13-4 victory over the Transylvania Pioneers behind an explosive 3rd quarter.

The Lynx were the first to get on the board a minute and a half into the matchup behind an unassisted goal from Geist Pollack. The first half of the game collectively had the most shots for both teams compared to the second. Rhodes connected on 4 of their 21 attempts in the first 30 minutes, while the Pioneers were able to net 3 of their 17 total first half attempts. Despite all the action thanks to the attempts, the scoreboard didn't light up until the next half.

The Lynx felt they had kept it close long enough. They responded with a barrage; outscoring Transylvania 6-0 in the third quarter to lead 10-3 heading into the final 15. To earn his lone goal after forcing a turnover and recovering the ground ball, Drew Litner launched it near midfield at the 6:25 mark of the quarter to find the bottom of an unguarded net. He also had 4 total assists in the game to lead both teams in points with 5 total.

The first goal of the 4th quarter was a Drew-to-Drew connection as Litner dished Drew Downes his third and final goal of the game. Downes and Andrew Murphy, a freshman in his season debut, tied to lead the team in goals with 3 a piece. Last Monday on the road, Downes had 7 goals in 10 shots on goal attempts and Murphy did not see the field. Martin Maxim followed with 2 goals, and Litner, Pollack, Jack Wentz, James Mayfield, and Liam Sullivan rounded out the rest of the scoring with one a piece.

David Hart remained an anchor for the defense as he led both teams with 6 ground balls recovered and 3 caused-turnovers. Jake Gobel and Nick Bilotti combined for 11 ground balls recovered as the Lynx out hustled the Pioneers for a 41-25 edge. Head Coach Dave Zazzaro had every reason to be pleased with the defensive display from his team, who also caused 13 total turnovers over the Pioneer's total of 6.

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