Sam Douglas/Fourth Estate
Offense Falters Late as Patriots Lose 15-8
BY SAM DOUGLAS, ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
On Saturday morning at Mason Stadium, April 12, the Patriots fell 15-8 to the Rhode Island Rams after being unable to keep up a hot start momentum from their five goal score in the first quarter.
In the “It Only Takes One” Fentanyl Awareness game, Mason ended the first quarter with a 5-3 lead, but were held off the board in the second quarter by Rhode Island’s defense. Mason was only able to score three goals total in the second half.
Rhode Island started out steady with three goals in each of the first three quarters of the game. The game was still close halfway into the fourth quarter with Rhode Island hanging onto a 10-8 lead, but the Rams scored five goals in the last six minutes of the game to pull away.
Junior midfielders Kaitlyn Bestick, Dahlia Trippel and Kate Anders each scored two alongside freshman attacker Catherine Pollard and junior midfielder Riley Ellis each scoring one goal for Mason.
The win pushes Rhode Island’s record to 7-7 overall and 3-5 in A-10 play during their inaugural season. Mason falls to 6-9 overall and 1-7 in conference.
Present at the game was Virginia First Lady Suzanne S. Youngkin, an advocate of fentanyl awareness. Before the game, Youngkin was named an honorary captain and presented with a ceremonial lacrosse stick during the pregame festivities.
Youngkin had previously stopped by Mason in October to talk to student athletes, including the women’s lacrosse team, about her “It Only Takes One” campaign, which aims to spread awareness about the dangers of the drug fentanyl.
The loss effectively ends Mason’s chances of making the A-10 tournament, as they fall to three games behind current six seed Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) with two games left of the season. Rhode Island rises to seventh in the standings, and their match-up with VCU on April 26 could have major implications for the sixth team in the A10 tournament.
Mason will play La Salle at Mason Stadium on April 19, before closing out the season in Amherst against UMass on April 26.