SPORTS
PAGE 14
Wednesday, April 20, 2022
Men’s lacrosse dominates in West Virginia By Zach Dumais Opinion editor
The Mercyhurst men’s lacrosse team traveled to Philippi, West Virginia, on April 16, to take on the Alderson Broaddus Battlers. The Mercyhurst men’s lacrosse team has been red hot as of late, as they were on a seven-game win streak going into the matchup. Their record on the season was 8-2 and they have won all six of their games at home in Erie. The Lakers were just coming off of a great win against Roberts Wesleyan College on April 13. In that matchup, Mercyhurst dominated with a final score of 26-10. The 26 goals were the most Mercyhurst has scored all season and there were two players who each scored at least five goals. Alderson Broaddus and Mercyhurst have played each other many times in the past with this being the ninth game between them. Mercyhurst first played the Battlers on April 7, 2013, and it was a victory for the Lakers with a final score of 19-5. The Lakers have gone on to win every single game against Alderson Broaddus, leading to an eightgame win streak against their GMAC rival. Would the Lakers be able to
Hurst Athletics photo
Sophomore Colin Schmatz attempts to score in the April 16 match against Alderson Broaddus.
capitalize on this momentum? The game started at 4 p.m. and shortly after, the men’s lacrosse team was out to a hot start. In the first 15 minutes of the game, Mercyhurst was able to put up eight unanswered goals on the board. The first quarter scoring was created by junior Myles Hamm,-
junior Bryce Johnson with two, senior Todd Redman, senior Liam Bogedain, junior Patrick Carrozi, freshman Matt Mojsej and freshman Jackson Saulpaugh. The Lakers continued the offensive attack into the second quarter as they scored six more to go into the halftime intermission with a
14-0 lead. This offensive scoring in the second quarter was led by sophomore Casey Scott with two, freshman Antonio Rossetti with two, freshman Josh Michel and freshman Tim Weisenel. The defense naturally played extremely well in the first half to prevent the Battlers from scoring.
However, the Battlers did have a bit of a breakthrough in the second half. They were able to score their first and second goals in the third quarter. The first was at the very start of the third quarter, just over two minutes in. The second came a little before halfway into the quarter at the 7:54 mark. These two scores would be the only ones that Alderson Broaddus would be able to score against the Lakers’ strong defense. It was a relatively quiet quarter for Mercyhurst as they ended up scoring three goals in the third, making it a 17-2 lead going into the fourth quarter. Saulpaugh scored his second goal of the day in the third, Michel also scored his second, and Rossetti scored his third. The Lakers could not be stopped as they finished off the day with five goals in the fourth quarter. These scores came from freshman Adam Oscarson, junior Jared Butler, Mosjej with his second, freshman Lucas Hoskin and freshman Kevin Sprague. The final tally for the Lakers was a 22-2 win and they continued on to a eight-game win streak.
Get to know Hurst’s volleyball coach By Sydney Dietz Sports editor
Ryan Patton has loved volleyball for the majority of his life. Growing up, Patton has been exposed to high levels of play and ‘volleyball thinking’. He stated that he has never had the chance to not love the sport. Throughout his life, his father coached volleyball and was in three halls-of-fame because of it. Patton participated in his first state championship game when he was 10 years old. When asked about his past experience with playing volleyball Patton stated, “I’d probably sell myself short if I didn’t say I was a pretty good player. Anyway, I was probably as successful as a guy with the explosiveness and hangtime of a washing machine could be.” Patton attended Juniata College and majored in math. Juniata College is a small college in central Pennsylvania that consists of 1100 students. Although Patton graduated with a degree in math, he also got his Masters Degree in Physical Education in which he is utilizing to make a very good career for himself as a volleyball coach. Patton started his coaching at Juniata College and coached there from 1996-2002. While he was a coach at Juniata, his team
won the Molten Division III National Championship in 1998. In 1999, Patton’s team was the first Division III team to advance to the semi finals of the Eastern Intercollegiate Volleyball Association. Patton has been coaching volleyball at Mercyhurst for 18 seasons. He started coaching in 2005 and has continued ever since. During his time at Mercyhurst, Patton was named PSAC West Coach of the year in 2008. In 2008 and 2009, Patton took the team to the NCAA Championship, which was a first in Laker history. The best season Patton has had was in 2012 when the Women’s volleyball team won 25 matches which led them to the NCAA tournament. For the 2021-2022 season, the women’s volleyball team had an overall record of 11-16. “For at least the last six weeks of last season we played at an NCAA tournament level. I’m so happy with that,” Patton said. “Unfortunately before that we had a health issue we had to deal with and were frustratingly ‘close enough’ but didn’t have the results to actually get us in the tournament. I hold my head real high.” Patton said the team has potential to achieve some neat things and he stated the team has the
principles and precepts that make them bound for greatness. One of Patton’s best memories as a volleyball coach is “seeing the team enjoy a hard-earned win and countless successes of my players both big and small, on and off the court.” However, he also made it to the men’s D II national championship in 1998. In addition to volleyball, Patton also enjoys the sport cricket in his spare time. “I’m pretty obsessed with the sport of cricket and set alarms to watch games in India and Australia,” Patton said. He also collects books and loves going to book sales to collect used books. “I have a library of over 1500 volumes and to answer everybody’s next question, no I haven’t read all of them,” Patton joked. Patton is not the only member of his family to work at Mercyhurst. His wife Jenell Patton works in Campus Ministry and also works with the volleyball team. The Pattons have two sons, Deke, who is 17 and Ike, who is 15. Both boys are keeping the volleyball tradition alive in the family. Patton is excited for the next season of volleyball. “Progress is what drives me, so I’m always excited for the next season, the next match, the
Hurst Athletics photo
Mercyhurst volleyball coach, Ryan Patton.
next practice,” Patton said. “This for the game and his love for volshould be a fun group to head leyball is reflected in his coaching into all of those ‘nexts’ with.” and his passion for the team. Patton has a very big passion
