Alamosa, CO. – The Adams State Men's Lacrosse team will continue their homestand this Saturday for an early afternoon matchup against Davenport University Panthers at 12 p.m. on the ASU Lacrosse Field. Saturday will mark the first meeting and battle on the lacrosse field for the Grizzlies and Panthers in program history.
Most recently, the Men's team faced off against the Otterbein Cardinals earlier this week for a home-game matchup. Although the game didn't go exactly as planned, the Grizzlies still fought hard to keep themselves in the game and scored some goals.
Offensively, the Grizzlies were well-balanced in the matchup and have been thus far this season. Against the Cardinals, the Grizzlies had six different players put one in the back of the net.
Chase Rodine was the only one to score two goals in the game, scoring his first two of the season.
Jacob Austin was another player to score, scoring only one this game but continuing his scoring streak. Austin has scored in all three games this season, helping to guide the Grizzlies offense with 4 goals and 2 assists. The junior midfielder has been an anchor for the offensive unit, along with a few other upperclassmen on the team.
On the other end of the field, the Grizzlies have held the fort down and kept games to a much lower score than what they could be. The Grizzlies defense has already faced some of the most lethal offenses they will face this season in seeing Mesa and Westminster. Keeping these offenses down the allies, forcing low-angle shots, has given their starting keeper,
Brendan Williams, better chances at making the save. Against the Cardinals, the Grizzlies caused quite a few turn-overs, multiple players forcing at least one in the game. The boys forced 7 turnovers and gathered 17 groundballs to help their offense out. At the faceoff,
Luke Meyers and
Connor Kuykendall pulled out a solid performance against the Cardinals and gave the Grizzlies a fighting chance. The tandem will look to do the same against the Panthers, hoping to boost their combined faceoff percentage.
Scouting Davenport
Currently, the Davenport Panthers hold an overall record of 0-4. They'll be coming to Alamosa hot off 7-15 loss to Colorado Mesa and will be wanting to take a win over the Grizzlies. Leading the Panthers offense is attackman Jordan Caskenette with 7 goals and 2 assists. Not too far behind him is freshman attacker Keelan McKouen and senior attacker Blake Gibson-McDonald. McKouen currently has 6 goals under his belt along with 1 assister while Gibson-McDonald has 5 goals and 7 assists, leading his team in assists. Guiding the panthers defense is freshman Andy Trapp with 6 caused turnovers and 10 groundballs. Trapp stands in front of the freshman Panthers keeper Daniel Milano, who has started and played all four games in the cage. Milano has a current save percentage of .492 and 65 total saves. Davenport's faceoff men have combined for a faceoff percentage of .302, which isn't far off from the Grizzlies percentage. There will be quite the battle for possession come Saturday afternoon. The Panthers have many fresh faces playing on the field for them in integral roles this year.
Despite their overall record of 0-3, the Grizzlies have still shown why they shouldn't be counted out too soon. Although things haven't clicked completely yet, everything is on the verge of coming together and creating a truly lethal and deadly underdog of a team. The Grizzlies are hungry for their first win and they're going to come out fighting this Saturday for that win.
