Lacrosse Closes Inaugural Season With Loss at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Mercer closed out its inaugural men’s lacrosse season with a 14-5 loss at Holy Cross on Saturday evening. The loss left the Bears with a record of 1-12 for the 2011 campaign.

The Crusaders jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the game, before MU finally got on the board with 4:32 left until halftime when John Avent found the back of the net with an unassisted goal.

Holy Cross made it 6-1 as the teams headed into the locker room.

HC dominated the third period, 6-0, before Mercer’s Cole Branch scored the first of his eventual four goals to open the fourth quarter. After another two scores by the Crusaders to make it 14-2, Branch scored three straight goals in the waning minutes for the 14-5 final score.

Holy Cross out-shot Mercer by a 47-17 margin and won 19 of 23 faceoffs. The Crusaders also had a 50-26 advantage in ground ball pick-ups.

MU’s Justin Bateman played 55:10 in goal for the Bears and made 13 saves.