HOLLAND, Mich. – The Trine University men's lacrosse team was just shy of an upset victory over the top-seeded and nationally receiving votes Hope College. The Thunder bowed out of the Michigan Intercollegiate Athletic Association (MIAA) Tournament presented by Collegiate Credit Union with an 8-7 loss.
Trine struck first in the contest when Landen Kruse scored with 5:22 remaining in the first period. Kramer Zastrow added an assist.
The next two goals went to the home side, one in the first and one to start the second, before JJ Boos knotted the game again at two. The Flying Dutch went on a run in the middle part of the second quarter, building a 5-2 lead with seven minutes remaining in the half.
Connor Ballantyne started the comeback attempt for the Thunder, scoring twice in the final five minutes of the half to cut that deficit to 5-4 at the intermission. Caleb Edwards added an assist.
Neither team scored through the first 10 minutes of the second half, before they traded goals to enter the final quarter with a 6-5 score in favor of Hope. Justin Scheberle scored the goal for Trine.
Hope started the fourth quarter with a pair of goals to build the lead back to three at 8-5. The Thunder clawed back again with two goals of their own with the second coming at the 5:21 mark in the quarter. Riley Fischer scored the first with an assist by Mitchell Voglewede while Rocco Curatola scored the second, with an assist by Ballantyne.
The Thunder had a final chance with under a minute left in the game to tie the contest but couldn't convert and the Flying Dutch escaped the game with the 8-7 victory.
Ballantyne led the team with three points on his two goals and an assist. The rest of the points were spread among eight different members of Trine.
Defensively the Thunder had 19 caused turnovers, with Mason Kaufman, Eiji Minobe and Danny Kelly each coming up with three. Mason Levin and J'Oshua Shaw were second with two each. Minobe, Shaw and Scheberle all tied with five groundballs to top the team. Luke Arnold played the game in net and finished the game with 11 saves despite the eight goals.
Trine finishes the season 14-5 overall. It is the second straight season that the team has notched 14 wins, the two highest totals in program history and the first time the Thunder have had double-digit win totals in back-to-back seasons. The team's senior class will leave Trine with 44 wins, the most by any group of men's lacrosse student-athletes. Head Coach Ryan Kuhn sits at 53-31 at the helm with a .631 winning percentage, both program bests.
