Facing Mount St. Mary’s in a makeup game that was supposed to be the season opener in February, the VMI lacrosse team fell by a 16-9 score to The Mount Wednesday evening at Drill Field No. 2.
Senior Ryan Perouty became the 15th Keydet in VMI lacrosse history to score 70+ goals in a career, with a hat trick against The Mount putting him at 72 goals for his career. Sophomore Scout Ripley also had a hat trick on the day.
The Keydets (1-6, 0-3) were down by two early in the first period, but a goal by Hartley Jordan put VMI on the board. The Mount (2-7, 0-3 NEC) scored a few more goals, with a goal by Ripley and Perouty in the first period that brought the score to 6-3 after the first period.
“Today we made too many youthful mistakes to overcome the outcome against a talented Mount Saint Mary’s team,” said VMI head coach James Purpura. “Defensively, we gave a veteran-led Mount team too many scoring opportunities early in the game and they capitalized. Offensively, we took too many shots from not high percentage areas and our shooting quality needs to improve. I liked our team’s effort, especially in the ride as we were able to generate some possessions off of our pressure. Our clear was improved and we did a much better job limiting transition against us today. We have a quick turnaround leading into Saturday’s conference game against an athletic and skilled Bellarmine squad and our guys continue to be hungry and humble to improve.”
For the second period, both teams scored three goals as VMI added pressure on defense. Josh Drake and Ripley scored in the second, with Jon Fant adding a goal with seven seconds left in the first half to bring the score to 9-6 at the break.
The Mount added three goals in the third period, while goals by Perouty and Ripley tried to chip away at the deficit. Despite being down four going into the last period, a VMI goal by Ripley was not enough as The Mount scored four to seal the win.
Matt Haggerty led The Mount with four goals on the game, with Luke Frankeny right behind with his own hat trick. VMI goalkeeper Jack Liselli had nine saves for the game, while The Mount keeper Dylan Furnback finished with 14.
The Keydets will host Bellarmine in a Southern Conference matchup this Saturday at noon at Drill Field No. 2.
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