Rome, Ga. - The Centenary lacrosse team battled the Shorter University Hawks toe to toe on Monday evening before falling 9-6 in a non-conference contest at Ben Brady Field.
The Gents (0-2) shook off a disappointing loss to the Reinhardt University Eagles on Saturday in their season opener in Waleska, Ga. The Hawks improved to 3-1 with Monday's win.
Sophomore A G'Colby Spivey (Dallas, Texas) started the scoring as he found the net for the first time this season with a goal at the 12:56 mark of the first quarter, assisted by sophomore MF Dominic Ogier (St. Louis, Mo.).
The Hawks scored the next two goals to go up 2-1, but the Gents tied it up as senior M Jordan Cook (Bryant, Ark.) beat the first-quarter buzzer and scored with just two seconds left to make it 2-2. The goal was Cook's second of the season after he scored once and had a pair of assists on Saturday at Reinhardt. Cook has now scored three or more goals in a game seven times in his career.
The Hawks went up 3-2 with an early second-quarter goal and then Gents' senior A/MF Mark Temple (Houston, Texas) tied it at 3-3 with a goal at the 11:16 mark. The goal, Temple's second of the season, was assisted by freshman M Ethan Hewett (Bossier City, La.). Shorter then scored twice in the final six minutes of the quarter to take a 5-3 lead at halftime.
Two early third-quarter goals gave the Hawks a 7-3 lead, but Cook struck again -twice, as he scored a pair goals in a span of just three and a half minutes to cut Centenary's deficit to 7-5. His goal at the 4:46 mark was assisted by Davillier and his next, with 1:34 left, was assisted by Hewett.
Temple found the net again, scoring an unassisted goal, with 12:40 left in the game to make it 7-6. Jaden Sealey, however, scored two late goals for the Hawks to make it 9-6 as Shorter held Centenary scoreless for the final 12+ minutes to seal the home win. Sealey led the Hawks with three goals and three players scored two each. Grant Sanders had a game-high three assists and scored a pair of goals.
Freshman Thomas Jordan (Dallas, Texas) started in goal for the second-straight game and went the distance, making 13 saves. Chase Finney also played the entire game for the Hawks and recorded 14 saves.
Shorter took 32 shots to Centenary's 28 and the Gents edged the Hawks in ground balls, 21-20. The Gents won 11 of 18 face off's and went 5-12 on clears while the Hawks finished 8-9. The Gents turned the ball over 18 times and the Hawks gave it away 16 times. Cook took a game-high 13 shots, eight on goal, and had two caused turnovers. Davillier and freshman FO/M Aiden Stillwell (Shreveport, La.) each had four ground balls to lead the Gents in that category.
Senior Ben Vazquez (San Antonio, Texas) had three ground balls, and Jordan, Ogier, senior D Ethan Little (Tyler, Texas), and sophomore M Xavier Nixon (Dallas, Texas) each had two. Davillier, Little, Hewett, and junior D Kaleb Coates (Shreveport, La.) each had one caused turnover. Sophomore A G'Colby Spivey (Dallas, Texas) took four shots with three coming on goal. Cook and Temple now each own nine multi-goal performances in their impressive careers.
The Gents will now rest up for 12 days until their home opener at Mayo Field set for Saturday, Feb. 24 against Huntingdon College at 1 p.m.
See the complete Gents' season schedule here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/mlax/2023-24/schedule
Admission is FREE to all Centenary home athletic contests. Live stats and live video stream are available for all Centenary home contests.
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