weinburgh vs le moyne
Brian McWalters | RoadWin Photos
12
Mercyhurst Mercyhur 1-7, 0-2
18
Winner VMI VMI 7-2, 1-1
Mercyhurst Mercyhur
1-7, 0-2
12
Final
18
VMI VMI
7-2, 1-1
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Mercyhurst Mercyhur 4 4 1 3 12
VMI VMI 3 6 3 6 18

Game Recap: Lacrosse |

Keydets down Mercyhurst for first ever NEC victory

LEXINGTON, Va. – Ahead by a slim 9-8 margin at halftime, the VMI lacrosse team put up another nine goals in the second half while limiting Mercyhurst to four to come out victorious, 18-12, on a windy Saturday afternoon at Drill Field #2.
 
With the win, the Keydets improve to 7-2, 1-1 on the year for their first ever Northeast Conference victory while the Lakers fall to 1-7 overall, 0-2 in league play.
 
The seventh win of the season ties for the most Division I wins in program history tied with the 2024 and 1995 squads.
 

 
Game Summary
The Lakers jumped to a quick 3-1 lead over the first eight minutes of the game led by a hat trick by Jeremi Phoenix-Lefebvre before the Keydets responded with a pair of goals by Jack Duncan-Bloom and Austin English. Antonio Rossetti of Mercyhurst put in one more goal for the Lakers to give the visitors a one-goal lead at 4-3 with three quarters to play.
 
The teams went back and forth in the second period with the Keydets ultimately outscoring the Lakers by a 6-4 margin to go into the break with a 9-8 advantage.  English notched a hat trick by the 8:55 mark after two more goals while Luke Rusterucci also earned a hat trick with three goals in the second quarter. Dayton Bagwell also contributed a score at the 3:14 mark of the stanza.
 
Mercyhurst tied the game at 9-9 with a goal by Chase Petschke at the 13:10 mark, but the Keydets responded with three unanswered goals from Simon Moore, Luke Mryncza and English to go into the final period with a 12-9 lead.
 
VMI took care of business by adding six more goals over the final 15 minutes, including five in a row from the 10-minute mark down to the final goal put in by Wil Duffy with 2:19 to play.
 
VMI Head Coach James Purpura
"I'm proud of our guys for earning a big conference win today. We started a little slow and got down early and it turned into a back-and-forth affair.

"This game started at the face off X. Both Joseph Weinburgh and AJ Riley had big days and secured us a lot of possessions. They allowed us to go on runs, especially in the second half. I thought offensively we played well. There was a ton of depth scoring. We played unselfish and had eight different goal scorers. Luke Rusterucci had a big day and the attack played well as a unit.

"Defensively, we really stepped up in the second half and got more consistent stops. We cleared the ball well and played good complementary lacrosse. We will watch the tape and see where we can continue to get better and get back to work this week as we prepare for another big conference game."
 
Key Stats
*Luke Rusterucci finished with five goals on the day and now has 116 for his career, surpassing Joe Brockman's mark of 114 goals for the No. 3 spot on the VMI career goals listing. He needs four more to pass Tim Nolan's mark of 119 goals for the No. 2 spot. The five goals is also the third-most goals in a single conference game in program history.
*Austin English finished with four goals and Dayton Bagwell also registered a hat trick
*VMI outshot the Lakers by a 59-36 margin and controlled the possession battle by winning 22 of 34 faceoffs led by freshman Joseph Weinburgh claiming 14 of 22 attempts. AJ Riley won 8 of 12 faceoffs
 
Up Next
VMI hits the road for a Northeast Conference battle at Cleveland State. Face-off is set for a noon start at Krenzler Field in Cleveland, Ohio.








 
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