April 9, 2012

LIVE VIDEO - LIVE STATS

MACON, Ga. – After suffering perhaps its worst loss of the season at Air Force on March 31^st, the Mercer men's lacrosse team looks to rebound in its first game in ten days on Monday afternoon at Delaware.

Monday's 3 p.m. game will be part three of the Bears (1-10) current four-game road trip and represents the next chance for the Bears to record their first road victory in program history.   

Delaware comes into Monday's contest with a 4-7 overall record and 0-3 in the Colonial Athletic Association. The Blue Hens just snapped a four-game losing streak by defeating Michigan on Saturday, 11-7. The Bears dropped a 14-4 decision to Michigan earlier this year in Jacksonville.

LAST TIME OUT – March 31, 2012

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. – The Mercer men's lacrosse team mustered just four goals off 23 total shots in a lopsided 20-4 loss at the hands of the Air Force Academy on Saturday afternoon.

In the program's first game west of the Mississippi, the Bears (1-10) seemed outmatched and outmanned from the start. Air Force (4-4) dominated from the opening faceoff in scoring the game's first four goals. It wasn't until less than six minutes to play in the first quarter that Mercer buried its first score.

Sophomore Cole Branch scored an unassisted goal when he made a nice individual run to shake two Air Force defenders. Branch's first goal was his ninth of the season, which is second best on the squad.

SCOUTING THE BLUE HENS

The Blue Hens achieved a national ranking as high as No. 16 in the country by the USILA Coaches Association on February 20^th after starting the season 2-1. Delaware has faced off against four ranked opponents, including dropping a close 8-6 defeat to perennial top ten program and No. 3 Johns Hopkins.

The Blue Hens were able to defeat then ranked No. 8 Villanova on March 3^rd by a score of 13-9 and is led by Grant Kaleikau who has recorded 16 goals and 26 assists on the year. Kaleikau is the 16^th ranked player in points per game in the nation, averaging 3.80 points per game.

In goal, the Blue Hens feature a freshman goaltender in Chris Herbert. Herbert has started and played in all 11 games for Delaware this season and his 10.31 goals against average is good enough for 37^th in the country.

GAME NOTES

- Sophomore Zack Ward has had a breakout campaign after transferring from Division III Salisbury this past year. Ward has record a goal in all 11 games this season and had his first-career hat trick in the Bears' lone win of the season against Wagner.

 

-Through 11 games this season the Bears have unleashed a total of 323 shot attempts which is the exact same amount the Bears were able to produce through 11 games in their inaugural season last year. The Bears however, have scored five more goals this season and have limited their opponents to 85 fewer shots in the process.