Story by Mark Musgrave III, Editor-In-Chief
Four. and. 0. That’s the record of the #6 Nationally Ranked Aquinas College Men’s Lacrosse squad after a trip to Kansas for non-conference play. Not to mention a win against the lackluster Central Michigan University club team in an exhibition matchup before the start of the regular season in February.
The excursion for Head Coach Chris Klaiber and company began March 2 in Davenport, Iowa against the #9 St. Ambrose Fighting Bees. Your Aquinas Saints managed well but fell behind 3-4 in the first and were back and forth with the Bees for the remainder of the match. They then took the lead under two minutes in the fourth quarter, walking away with a win by a final score of 13-12.
The following weekend consisted of another trip out west, this time facing three Kansas opponents, two of which were receiving votes. Matchups included (RV) Benedictine College, (RV) Ottawa University, and University of Saint Mary.
Against Benedictine the Saints found themselves down again in the first, this time by a score of 3-4, all before steamrolling ahead in the second and never looking back. Final score: Aquinas 12 Benedictine 5. Freshman Cooper Neinhuis led with 5 goals, and Dean Cooper came close behind him with 4.
Ottawa University was another spectacular game in itself. It played back and forth, with a tie at half. Aquinas pulled out of the half shutout in the fourth, followed by a spectacular 7-goal fourth to snag a win by a final score of 15-13. The players of the game were Cooper Neinhuis with another 5 goals and Senior Cade Linnemeyer with 3.
Last week’s matchup against Saint Mary looked like an exhibition matchup on paper, as Aquinas cleaned house with a 17-4 win. Saint Mary only scored one goal per quarter. This was a pure example of a team effort. Linnemeyer and Neinhuis led the way yet again with 3 goals in addition to Sophomore Oliver Modderman with 3 as well.
Amid much victory in March, Junior Goalkeeper Austin Hynote won not just one, but two consecutive WHAC Player of the Week awards. In that span, he posted a 3-0 record, 49 saves and a .589 save percentage.
According to Sophomore Defenseman/Long Stick Middle Jack Lustig, “The team performance has been great so far out of the conference. We have our ups and downs, but so far we have come out on top. Lots of our success comes from our coaching staff. They put in the time and effort to prepare us for the upcoming games so that we can succeed. We still have lots to prove to the NAIA that we can be a top contending team.”
The current NAIA Top 10 is listed below. This week, Aquinas passed (7) Concordia making them the highest-ranked WHAC team. As the season progresses, they will also have to play (8) Indiana Tech and (RV) Madonna who dropped from the rankings this week.
The Saint’s home opener is Saturday, March 30th vs. UM-Dearborn at 12:00 p.m. Come support your Saints as their stellar season plays on!
The Saint 