Panthers upend Lions Lacrosse

Birmingham, AL – The Piedmont College men’s lacrosse team fell to hosting Birmingham-Southern College dropping an 8-6 road decision earlier this evening bringing their record to 1-2 overall.

Goals by five different Lions were not enough to beat the Panthers as the Lions drop a second decision by exactly two goals with the Lions falling 10-8 last weekend at Randolph-Macon.

Piedmont had secured a three goal lead at half which included 2 man-up goals at either end of the 2nd period. The Lions scored twice in the final minute of the 2nd period alone with TAYLOR CARTER tallying his 6th goal of 2015 with just 44 seconds left while a STEVE BLANCHARD goal with just 12 ticks left made the halftime score 5-2 for PC.

After NICK GREEN scored the 6th goal for the Lions to make the score 6-3 Piedmont just over seven minutes into the 3rd, the Panthers went on a tear scoring five unanswered goals into the 4th period to lay claim to the 8-6 win overtaking the visiting Lions with just 42 seconds left in the 3rd.

The two teams combined for just one goal in the 4th period of the low-scoring affair in Birmingham with the lone goal coming by the Panthers as David Arnold sealed the game with 6:55 remaining scoring his second goal of the game. Arnold also got the scoring going on the night finding the net less than two minutes into the contest to give BSC an early 1-0 lead.

The Lions had 14 shots on goal for the game converting on six of those occasions with Green leading the way with his six shots total. Four Lions had a single assist on the night including SUMNER GANTZ who is second on the team in that category through three games with his five helpers.

Among the goalscorers was NICK GREEN who had two of the six on the evening to break out after being held to just one combined score in the Lions’ first two games of the season. SPENCER ORTIS and TAYLOR CARTER both scored today as well bringing their season totals to eight and six goals respectively.

The Panthers were led by David Arnold and Connor Breslin who both tallied two scores each. The offense of the Panthers provided the edge against Piedmont on the evening as the home team outshot the Lions 47 to 19 with 25 of the 47 finding the target.

MICK BAKER had an outstanding night in-between the pipes for the visitors. Baker saved 17 of the 25 shots on goal for a .680 save percentage while allowing the fewest goals in a single contest so far this season. With the loss to BSC, Piedmont falls to 1-2 overall after having claimed a win in their season opener, 19-10 over Millsaps.

After opening the season with three straight road games, the Lions will finally play their next contest at home. Berry College will be the opponent in the 2015 home opener set to take place on February 25 at 5:00 pm.

Live coverage of the home opener vs. Berry College under the lights at Walker Athletic Complex will be provided courtesy of the Mane Event Broadcasting Network as video and live stats both will be available.