DANVILLE, Ky. – The Centre men's lacrosse team suffered its first defeat of the 2021 season against the Carthage Firebirds as a mad dash to the finish line came up just short for the Colonels.
 
HIGHLIGHTS
 
- Carthage stormed out of the gates quickly with three unassisted goals before the first quarter was halfway finished.
- Centre bounced back with two goals in less than a minute. Nic Malubay found rookie Ridr Knowlton for the first score, followed 50 seconds later by a solo effort from Drew Greenblatt.
- Trailing 4-2 after one period, Centre stormed back to tie the game after a pair of goals by Will Hubbs. Carthage tallied two more scores before halftime and resumed their two-goal lead at 6-4.
- In the third quarter, Centre made its best run of the day. Knowlton assisted on a Chase Poplin goal, and following a tying score by Will Lathram, Malubay and Knowlton hooked up again to give Centre a 7-6 lead.
- Now behind for the first time, Carthage responded with the next five goals, the last of which came with 6:45 left in the game.
- Malubay made it 11-8 with five minutes to go, and then scored again to cut the margin to two. Seven seconds after Malubay's goal, Jack Shannon scored and it was 11-10 with 1:46 left, but the Colonels failed to put another shot on goal as the clock ran out.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
 
- In a very statistically close contest, Carthage held a 40-36 advantage in shots on the Colonels. Centre held a 32-22 edge in ground balls, led by Shannon with eight and JR Brockman with seven.
- The Colonels held a 17-7 advantage in faceoffs, with Dylan Croft winning all 17 of them for Centre.
- Seven different Centre players scored in the game, with Hubbs, Knowlton and Malubay each scoring a pair of goals.

NEXT UP

Centre men's lacrosse will return to action on Mar. 10 for a makeup date at Hanover that was originally scheduled for Feb. 20.