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Andrew Lanham flexes while holding a lacrosse stick.
Junebug Photography
Pictured, Andrew Lanham
9
Carthage CARTHAGE 6-1
11
Winner Hope HOPE 2-4
Carthage CARTHAGE
6-1
9
Final
11
Hope HOPE
2-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Carthage CARTHAGE 1 2 1 5 9
Hope HOPE 2 3 4 2 11

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse | | Alan Babbitt

Victorious Men's Lacrosse Fends Off Comeback from Unbeaten Carthage

Staring at a flock of red-hot Firebirds, the Hope College men's lacrosse team needed to stay cool.

The Flying Dutchmen converted a tie-breaking, man-up opportunity with 2 minutes, 15 seconds remaining in regulation on Saturday, snapping a six-goal run from unbeaten Carthage College (Wisconsin).

Hope (2-4) then added an insurance goal 1 ½ minutes later to secure an 11-9 victory at Van Andel Soccer Stadium.

Carthage (6-1) rallied from a 9-3 deficit with 16 seconds remaining in the third quarter, scoring on the final second of the third quarter and five more times over nearly 10 minutes. Andrew Johnson's 19th goal of the season pulled the Firebirds even.

The score remained deadlocked for 3 minutes, 2 seconds until senior midfielder Andrew Lanham (Rockford, Michigan / Rockford HS) buried his first goal of the game and fifth of the season off an assist from sophomore Gibson Heethuis (Hudsonville, Michigan / Hudsonville).

It was Hope's second man-up goal of the game. The Flying Dutchmen entered Saturday just 1-of-17 with man-up chances.

Head coach Michael Schanhals said his team continued to battle despite getting a full blast from the Firebirds.

"First it was the ground ball play, the face-off play and the win play. We fought and scrapped the whole game. We put pressure on them in the middle of the field," Schanhals said. "We got that faceoff, then a restart, too, on that possession. We have been stressing ball movement and sharing the ball. Any one of those six guys could have put that ball in. Andrew made the cut at the right time, caught it and gave us a big goal."

Senior attacker Nick McCreery (Rockford, Michigan / Rockford) extended Hope's lead to two goals with 48 seconds remaining. 

McCreery's second goal of the game and team-leading 12th of the season came after officials put four seconds back on the shot clock and the Flying Dutchmen caught Carthage unsettled on the restart.

Three more Flying Dutchmen each contributed two goals: Heethuis, junior midfielder Jackson Early (East Lansing, Michigan/ East Lansing) and junior attacker Andon Rieger (Elmhurst, Illinois / York).

Heethuis also recorded a season-high three assists.

Senior midfielder Caden Brainard (Muskegon, Michigan / Reeths-Puffer) matched his career-high with 14 groundballs for the Flying Dutchmen. Brainard also won a season-best 59% of faceoffs (13-22).

Junior goalkeeper Jack Balmforth (Livonia, Michigan / Detroit Catholic Central) made five saves.

Carthage received two goals apiece from Johnson, Ben Krok and Andrew Frey.

Schanhals was proud of his team's response after a 20-6 loss to Oberlin College (Ohio) earlier in the week.

"I'm proud of their work. There's no guarantee just because you work hard, things are going to go well. You just have to keep working hard. They have done that," Schanhals said. "Oberlin played really well. For us to rebound, reboot and prepare for this very good team, I'm so proud of these guys and how tough they are. They're doing things the right way."

The Flying Dutchmen next play on Tuesday, March 11, at 6 p.m. Central at Illinois Tech.
 
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