Box Score
EMMITSBURG, Md. -- Despite its best clearing day of the season, the VMI lacrosse team fell 15-4 to former conference opponent Mount St. Mary's on Saturday afternoon at Waldron Family Stadium.
The Keydets offensive unit was paced by Drew Leonard, who tallied a pair of goals, while Keith Long and Anderson Caldwell posted one goal each. Three different players, Colin Bosse, Mike DeBlasio and Chris Kitchen, registered assists.
Mount St. Mary's was led by twin brothers Brett and Bryant Schmidt. The former had a game-high seven points on four goals and three assists. while Bryant had a hat trick. Christian Kellett had six points on two goals and four assists.
Between the pipes for VMI, junior J Rice made seven saves while playing in all 60 minutes. Opposite him, The Mount split time in the cage between Chris Klaiber, who had six saves, and Kevin Hess, who stopp two shots.
VMI's defense was strong in the first quarter, only allowing the Mount a single tally from Adkins. The Keydets had several good looks on their offensive end, but could not capitalize, ending the first quarter down 1-0.
But the Mountaineers opened up the scoring in the second quarter, rattling off six straight goals over an eight minute span. Kellett had a hand in the first three Mount goals of the quarter with a pair of tallies and an assist on the third Mount goal of the stanza.
The Keydets got in the board oafter a timeout with 3:45 to go in the first half as Leonard fired home his fourth of the year. Kitchen tallied his first helper of the season on a goal that gave the Keydets their 73rd straight road game with a goal. VMI went into the break down 7-1.
The Keydets opened the third quarter with a goal at the 12:24 mark from Long, who beat the Mountkeeper, Kaliber down low for his eighth marker of the season. But the Mountaineers struck twice late in the period as Bryant Schmidt and Carey tallied goals to put The Mount up 9-2 at the end of the quarter.
VMI struck first in the fourth quarter as Caldwell turned in his second goal of the year, finishing on a pass from DeBlasio. But the Mountaineers opened up a six goal run to seal their second win of the season. The Schmidt twins combined for four goals and an assist during the run. The Keydets had the last goal of the day as Leonard tallied his second with Colin Bosse on the assist.
Despite the final score, the game was close in other stats, with the Mount holding a narrow 30-27 edge in shots, but the Mountaineers held a controlling 39-20 margin in groundballs.
The Keydets turned in their best clearing performance of the year, gaining the offensive zone a perfect 14 of 14 times. VMI's riding team was also highly successful, allowing the Mount to go 11 of 19.
The Keydets return to Lexington for a two-game home stand, beginning on Tuesday as they host Wagner College. Game time is set for 3 p.m. at Foster Stadium.
