A fourth-period comeback fell short for the VMI lacrosse team in a 14-11 contest in the final game of the 2021 season against visiting Cleveland State on Saturday afternoon at Drill Field No. 2.
The Keydets (1-10, 0-7) scored four unanswered goals in the last period but were unable to stage the comeback.
Seniors Ryan Perouty, Brice Basic, Jon Fant, Josh Drake, Bill Osteen, Eric Lane, and Anthony Moran were honored in a pregame ceremony.
The Vikings (3-7) scored first in the game after four minutes of strong defense by both sides in the first period. Fant scored first for VMI off an assist by Tim Lindenbaum. Cleveland State responded with four scores to take the lead. With under a minute left in the first, Perouty and Michael Santos each scored to narrow the VMI deficit to 5-3.
The second period was a close battle with Perouty and Fant scoring back-to-back goals to keep the game close going into halftime with VMI down, 8-5. VMI brought the score within two at the start of the third period with a man-up goal by Santos off a pass by Fant. Lindenbaum added a goal himself, but Cleveland State scored six goals in the third to go up by seven going into the last period.
VMI had 15 shots in the fourth period and four goals that began with Hartley Jordan off an assist by Fant. Drake added a goal himself and then assisted on the third goal by Santos. Perouty then had the quick pass to Santos for the last goal of the game to end in a 14-11 loss.
The Vikings were led by Stephen Masi and Noah Gleeson, who both finished with a hat trick. Goalie Kevin Sobey finished with seven saves to preserve the CSU win.
Santos led the Keydets with four goals, while Fant and Perouty each had two. Osteen finished with seven saves on the game for VMI.
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