LAX Falls in Season Opener at Anna Maria

PAXTON, Mass. – The Mitchell College men's lacrosse team opened the 2018 season with an 18-8 loss at Anna Maria College on Wednesday afternoon.

Anna Maria's Brandon Pavoni led all scorers with six goals and three assists in the game. Brady Seymour and Jake Klemba each added four goals and an assist, and rounding out the scoring for the AMCATS were Cameron Perry and Colton Layman with two goals apiece. Perry also added three assists to his stat line while Layman had two.

The Mariners were led by Kyle Marsh who scored three goals on the afternoon. Jade Shields and Jesse McKeever each scored two goals in their collegiate debuts, and Jack Dalton added a score to round out the offense for the visitors.

The first quarter belonged to the AMCATS as they netted five goals to grab the early lead. Perry opened the scoring just two minutes in with his first of the game, and a minute later the AMCATS scored another by way of Klemba man-up tally. AMC scored the first four goals before Marsh broke through to put the Mariners on the scoreboard. With 10 seconds left in the period, Pavoni scored again to give his team the 5-1 lead after 15 minutes.

The second quarter brought more of the same for the AMCATS, as they once again outscored their opponent 5-1. Mitchell did open the scoring with another goal from Marsh to cut the deficit to 5-2. However, Anna Maria closed the half with five unanswered goals to lead 10-2 at halftime.

Anna Maria picked up where it left off, scoring two goals in the first four minutes of the second half. Klemba scored one at the 11:28 mark on a man-up opportunity. Shields then scored his goal for Mitchell with 7:09 remaining in the period. The Mariners started to surge back, scoring four of their own in the period to cut the score to 14-6 going in to the fourth.

Mitchell's momentum didn't carry into the final period. Anna Maria tallied twice in the first two minutes to bring the lead back to double digits. Though they would concede two more goals and see their lead dip to 16-8, the AMCATS put the finishing touches on the game in the final 1:30 with goals from Seymour and Layman. 

Anna Maria won 21 of 29 face-offs and capitalized on two of seven extra-man opportunities. Paul Schwarz stopped 75 percent of the shots he faced and finished with six saves to pace the AMCATS. Mitchell goalie Marcel Quinlan faced 42 shots and made 24 saves in his first action of the spring. 

Mitchell (0-1 overall) will next play at Farmingdale State College on Saturday, February 24 at 3:30 p.m.