Men’s Lacrosse: VMI falls at Mount St. Mary’s, 10-9

VMI led 9-6 with five minutes left, but Mount St. Mary’s rallied with four straight goals to win 10-9 Saturday afternoon at Waldron Family Stadium in Emmitsburg, Md.

The Keydets (0-3) led by a 9-5 score going into the fourth quarter before surrendering goals by Mount’s Justin Weick and three straight from Kelly Gouin as Mount St. Mary’s tied the game at 9-9 with 27 seconds left on the clock.

With the game appearing to be headed to overtime, Mount’s Noah Daniels rushed in to the VMI defense and snuck in a final goal with 17 seconds left to lift The Mount to victory.

The Keydets scored in spurts in the first and third periods as VMI led 3-1 after the first quarter and outscored The Mount 4-1 in the third quarter that put the Keydets in a favorable position going into the final quarter ahead 9-5.

“That was a tough one,” said VMI head coach Jon Birsner. “It was a great battle and we played with tremendous heart, but a tough loss. I feel for these young men but they should hold their heads up high and realize that we are playing this game at a high level because of their hard work and tough attitudes.

“We need to continue to build on our good moments and learn from our controllable mistakes. These moments expose inexperience, but I’m confident in our weekly approach that we will benefit down the stretch from being in this game today.

“I’m so proud of Bill Osteen. He had a career day today in the cage. He is a tremendous young man who gave us an incredibly tough performance that kept us in it for 60 minutes.”

Osteen finished the game with a career-high 17 saves, topping the 16 that he earned twice as a freshman in 2018. The Mount took 47 shots on the day as Osteen faced a barrage of shots, including 17 in the final quarter.

John Daniel led the Keydets with three goals on the day while junior Ryan Perouty continued his point streak with two goals on the afternoon. Josh Bass also contributed a pair for VMI while Jon Fant and Michael Santos each put in one goal.

VMI will play its first home game of the season next Saturday when SoCon rival Richmond visits Lexington for a noon matchup at Drill Field No. 2.