By Rachel Levy, Sports Editor

The Shenandoah University men’s lacrosse team lost 8-14 on Saturday to out-of-conference contender, Elizabethtown College Blue Jays. The Hornets stayed with the Blue Jays for the first half of the game but got dominated in the second half.

The Blue Jays were able to pick up the first faceoff of the game but quickly lost it to the Hornets due to a warding call. Sophomore Jared Barlow took the ball off the penalty and ran it to the attacking end where he passed it off to senior Connor Bishop who took the first shot of the game but was denied by the Elizabethtown goalie. The ball rebounded off the leg of the goalie and sophomore Orlando Levins beat a Blue Jay defender on the chase to the sideline to win the ball back. Levins brought the ball back into play where the Hornets passed it around until the ball made it to sophomore Eric Sawyer who shot it in and made the first goal of the game.

Elizabethtown took possession of the ball after the Hornets’ goal and was able to make two goals before Levins was able to break the Blue Jays defense. With 7.4 seconds left in the first quarter Levins ran the ball around the back of the goal and swung around on the other side to take a shot out far on the left side of the goal to score and bring SU back into the game.

When the quarter looked to be finished after Levins’ goal, Elizabethtown College shot at the buzzer from the 40-yard line and made it past senior goalie Ben Judy to finish the first quarter on top.

Elizabethtown College kept their momentum going in the second quarter. The Hornets were able to pick up the faceoff to start the second quarter but the Blue Jays were quick to double team the Hornets and get the ball back and make a quick goal.

After the goal the Blue Jays got the ball on the next faceoff and took it down to shoot but Judy made a big jumping save, which helped his defenders get the ball back.  

Senior Stephen LaTona kept his team in the game when he just missed the goal on a shot but worked hard to get the ball back and less than a minute later made a goal.

The Hornets brought their momentum back up after LaTona’s goal when sophomore Andrew Shy picked the ball up off the faceoff and made a quick pass down to senior Tilghman Sanders who made another quick pass to LaTona standing on the crease who made a shot into the goal.

Elizabethtown wasn’t ready to back down just yet and made a goal soon after when the ball hit Judy but dribbled past his feet into the goal when it fell to the ground.

The Hornets came right back with another LaTona goal assisted by Sanders.   

At the end of the quarter the Blue Jays shot at the buzzer again but this time Judy was ready and made the save to end the second quarter, but this save was not enough for the trailing Hornets.

In the third quarter of the game Elizabethtown broke down Shenandoah’s defense and was able to make six goals against Shenandoah’s zero goals. Judy was able to put up a lot of saves but the Blue Jays saw they weren’t going to make any goals in the top of the goal against Judy and started shooting low.

In the fourth quarter Judy was able to lead a strong defense and kept the Blue Jays scoreless for the quarter. Unfortunately the attack was only able to make two goals, not enough to clear their deficit from the last quarter.

The first goal of the quarter was made by LaTona who was standing at the top of the crease and took a pass from sophomore Ryan Schott from behind the goal.  

With 5:05 left of the game, LaTona scored his fifth goal of the game.

Shenandoah University finished the game with a record of 2-2 on the season. They will have a chance to bring their win record up on March 8 against Alfred State College in a home game.