POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y.- Junior Stephen Robarge became the top ground ball pickup man in VMI lacrosse history Saturday, April 2 as the Keydets were defeated 13-7 by the Marist Red Foxes in MAAC conference action at Marist's Tenney Field. Junior Keith Long led the Keydet scoring effort for the fifth time this season with four goals.
VMI (2-8, 0-3 MAAC) senior Bobby Davis put the Keydets on the board first, scoring on a crank-shot from the top right of the arc to give the Keydets the early 1-0 lead just over 1 minute into the contest. Following a Corey Zindel score less than a minute later to knot the count at 1-1, Keydet junior Keith Long netted his first score of the contest on a shot from the top-left side of the cage to give VMI a 2-1 lead at the 10:14 mark of the first.
The Red Foxes (2-6, 1-1 MAAC) then went on a 7-0 run, rattling off consecutive scores, keyed by three off the stick of Jack Doherty, to extend the score to 8-2 in favor of the Red Foxes. The Marist run was broken up by Long's second score of the day, coming with 5:46 left in the second quarter to bring the count to 8-3.
Sophomore Russell East brought the score to 8-4 with 1:15 left in the first half, beating Marist goalie Brendan Price top-shelf for his first goal of the contest, a score that remained in tact heading into the halftime intermission.
Fans at Tenney Stadium were treated to a bit of VMI lacrosse history at the 13:43 portion of the second quarter, as junior Stephen Robarge broke the VMI career ground ball record. The Lorton, Va., native recorded his 248th pickup to break the record that was previously held by former Keydet great Derek Bogdon '01.
Marist held an 18-16 shot lead at the half, as well as a 19-16 ground ball advantage. Robarge was 9-of-12 in the faceoff X, and sophomore Matt Lindemann, who made his first-career start in goal, had seven stops in the cage for the Keydets, as VMI trailed heading into the half for the eighth time this season.
The Keydets cut the Marist lead 8-5 in the early going of the third, as Long tallied his third score of the contest 2:16 into the third frame to cut the Marist advantage to three scores.
After the two sides exchanged scores keyed by an East goal and Doherty's fourth mark of the game to send the tally to 9-6, Doherty earned his fifth score of the game with four ticks left in the third to extend a 10-6 lead heading into the fourth quarter of action.
Long stuck again three minutes into the fourth, bringing the Keydets back within striking distance at 10-7. His fourth score of the game came with 12:02 left in the game, beating a man down the lane and zipped a shot by Price off-hip left to create the three-goal deficit.
Marist answered back with 9:37 to go, as Doherty ripped his sixth score of the contest to regain a four score advantage for the Red Foxes at 11-7. The Red Foxes would go on to score the final two tallies of the game with 4:51 remaining on a goal by Nick Piotti and score by Tucker Nelson with one second left in the game to take the matchup 13-7.
Marist won the shot and ground ball totals by a narrow advantage, as the Red Foxes had 32 shots to VMI's 31, and 36 ground balls to VMI's 32. The combination of Robarge and junior Chris Rossie went 16-of-22 on faceoffs. Robarge had eight ground balls on his record-setting day.
VMI returns to action on Sat., April 9, hosting Canisius College from Foster Stadium. Faceoff is slated for 1 p.m., and the game will also serve as the program Wounded Warrior Contest, benefiting the Wounded Warrior Project. More details, a mid-week interview with Coach Anken and live stats can be accessed via VMIKeydets.com.
