GEORGETOWN, Texas (March 16, 2024) – The U.S. Merchant Marine Academy men's lacrosse team ran up a nine-goal lead to capture a 12-7 victory over Hendrix College on Saturday as the Mariners ended their spring break trip with consecutive victories in Texas. USMMA improves to 3-2 on the season while Hendrix falls to 4-3 on the year.
 
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• Box Score 

Sophomore attackman Owen Barcus (Annapolis, Md.) scored three goals and added an assist for a four-point day for USMMA while freshman midfielder Owen Behr (Vestavia Hills, Ala.) collected four points with two goals and two assists. Second-year midfielder William Badeer (Pittsburgh, Pa.) netted a hat trick for the Mariners in the victory with junior attackman Jack Collins (Memphis, Tenn.) contributing a goal and two assists. Senior midfielder Erich Diehl (Long Valley, N.J.) fired home two goals with sophomore Kyle Hennelly (Dacula, Ga.) adding a marker and junior Michael Emerick (Damascus, Md.) registering two assists on the scoresheet for the Mariners in the win.
 
The defensive effort was led by senior Bryce U'Selis (Quakertown, Pa.), who paced USMMA with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Sophomore midfielder Adam Johnson (Canton, Ohio) collected three ground balls while going 3-for-5 on face-off attempts and rookie attacker Brendan Ring (Philadelphia, Pa.) also had three ground balls with a caused turnover. USMMA was paced in the face-off circle by junior Chris Neuman (South Huntington, N.Y.) and sophomore Jason Rupli (Washington, D.C.) who combined for nine face-off victories for the Mariners. Freshman goalie Julian Garcia (Lakeway, Texas) put forth a second consecutive strong performance in his home state with five saves over his four periods of work while Tucker Swinerton (Weston, Fla.) closed out the game with three saves over the final twelve minutes of action.
 
Maximus LaMendola led Hendrix with three points (two goals, one assist) while teammates Klaus Rowan and Nick Quarles added a pair of goals apiece for the Warriors in the loss. Michael DeCaro went 11-for-23 in the face-off circle for Hendrix with goalie Ian Domeika making 16 saves in cage.
 
Barcus and Collins found the net in a relatively quiet first quarter, as USMMA held a 2-1 advantage over Hendrix after the opening period. However, the next thirty minutes of play turned the game into a runaway as the Mariners held the Warriors scoreless while rattling off eight goals in the second and third quarters, respectively. Barcus and Behr each scored two of the Mariners' six goals in the second quarter with Badeer and Diehl adding a marker to put USMMA up by an 8-1 score at halftime. Badeer would complete his hat trick with two third-quarter goals that capped the scoring in that frame and gave the Mariners a 10-1 edge heading into the fourth quarter. Hendrix would make a run in the final frame to get within five goals late in the contest, but markers by Hennelly and Diehl sealed the contest in favor of the Mariners.
 
The Mariners' three-game road trip concludes on Mar. 23 with a contest in Springfield, Mass. against Western New England. The opening face-off is set for 1 p.m. Live stats and a live video feed of the game will be available with links on the USMMA Men's Lacrosse Schedule Page!
 
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