Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO - The Whittier College Men's Lacrosse team lost the Locker-Stabler Cup Saturday as they fell 14-10 to Colorado College at Washburn Field.
Despite five points being tallied by Sigi Ocker (San Francisco, Calif.), it wasn't enough as the Purple & Gold fell to 4-8 on the season. Colorado College has now claimed possession of the cup for the seventh time in eight years.
Robbie Stern put CC on top within the first three minutes of the contest but the Poets countered with Ocker going back-to-back giving WC a 2-1 advantage. :44 seconds later the Tigers found the equalizer with Stern connecting for his second and that spearheaded a CC attack, which included three unanswered to close out the first quarter.
A score off the stick of Billy Shaffer (Tucson, AZ) pulled the Poets to within 5-3, however three goals in a span of 2:23 gave Colorado College an 8-3 lead. Ocker's third tally cut Whittier's deficit to four, and then Connor Dee (Collegeville, PA) gave the Poets another boost when he scored six seconds before halftime.
Early in the third quarter, Coby Petau scored twice in a span of 21 seconds to give CC a 10-5 lead, and then Daniel Lunghamer struck for what proved to be the game winner just before the midway point of the frame.
Nate Heritage (Bellingham, WA), Conner Sexton (San Jose, Calif.), and Ryland Clay (Aurora, CO) strung together a 3-1 run midway through the third to cut the deficit to four but with :29 seconds remaining in the stanza, CC was able to tack on another taking back the momentum.
Sophomore Cooper Champagne (La Mesa, Calif.) scored a pair of unassisted goals during the final 11:17, but it was too little too late for the Purple & Gold.
Senior Alex Cramer (Rocky Hill, CT) played 55:10 in goal and finished with 14 saves. Freshman Austin Mann (Santa Ana, Calif.) stopped five shots during his 4:50 in the cage.
Whittier was outshot on the game 52-27, was a mere 5-for-26 on faceoffs, picked up 22 groundballs and was 18-for-24 on clear attempts.
Ocker recorded three goals and a pair of assists for the Poets, while Champagne scored twice and set up another goal. Defensively, Ryan Crawford (San Clemente, Calif.) totaled four caused turnovers with five groundballs. Max Lepley (San Clemente, Calif.) added three caused turnovers and Max Thiele (San Diego, Calif.) registered two with five groundballs.
