After a week of almost spring like temperatures, we were rudely revisited by Winter, yesterday. The sunshine was brilliant, but the real feel temperatures were in the single digits and teens. We assembled at Molloy for a BYOB (Bring Your Own Breakfast) Team Breakfast, before piling into the vans for, what turned out to be a smooth, traffic free, drive to Southern Connecticut State, in New Haven.

Despite the frigid temps and biting wind, I thought our warm up looked okay, I thought we were ready to play. I was so wrong! The Owls scored just 25 seconds onto the game and did not stop there, opening a 5 – 0 lead in less than half of the first quarter! As we have many times already, this season, the Lions battled back, and scored the next 3 goals. We were firmly back in the game when the teams headed to the locker rooms for an extended (due to the cold) halftime, with the Lions trailing the Owls, 7 – 5.

Molloy controlled the early minutes of the third quarter and tied the game at 7! But, we were unable to take a lead, in fact it was at that juncture that the host team surged, scoring 5 unanswered goals giving them a commanding 12 – 7 lead, with 8:19 remaining in the game! Despite our palpable disappointment, the Lions mustered a furious rally. Four consecutive goals made the score 12 – 11 with 1:31 remaining! We won the ensuing Draw, but were unable to gain the offensive zone and only regained possession as time expired!

In that crucial 15 minutes spanning the second half of the third quarter and the first half of the final quarter, we were Out Shot, had 7 Turnovers, had 4 Failed Clears and lost the Ground Ball Battle, 7 – 2! I was, of course proud of the way we fought back and had a chance to tie the score. We just came up a bit short, once again. If only we could play with more consistency, we would not be constantly having to mount these furious comebacks.

So, the Lions were left to lament another devastating result. We had a long heart to heart discussion in the locker room. But there are more questions than answers, at this point. How do we come out flat in a game like this (or any game for that matter)? Why do we allow other teams, to have long stretches of dominance before asserting ourselves? Eerily similar to our losses to Georgian Court and Jefferson, we are all searching for solutions.

I am still confident in this team. We have demonstrated our ability to play quality lacrosse. I still believe we will get this thing going in the right direction. We will continue to dig in and work hard to make that happen.

The Lions get another crack at it, Wednesday night when we host the University of New Haven Chargers, a perennial Top Twenty Team.

GO LIONS!