Issue date: 4/24/09 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Alex Turco Junior Nick Kennedy fights a butler defender as he moves to throw the ball down field during DePauw's game Thursday evening.

The DePauw club lacrosse team started strong, but some key absences led to a 18-17 heartbreaking loss in favor of the visiting Butler University team.

The Tigers (3-2) started off the game firing on all cylinders. Freshman attackman Alex Grip was on a roll. Grip, the game's leading scorer with seven, weaved his way through the Butler defense and the Tigers expanded on a 3-2 first quarter lead with a 13-7 score at half.

"They couldn't guard Alex Grip in the first half. He had something like five in the first half," said junior midfielder Nick Kennedy.

The Tigers came out the second half and were met by an energized Butler squad. The Bulldogs, who are three years removed from being a Div. I program, were well conditioned and wore down the depleted DePauw squad. When the Tigers found themselves down men due to penalties, the Bulldogs went on a run tying the game up at 13 going into the fourth quarter.

"I had a bad feeling about it because some people were getting light," Kennedy said. "I have a history of losing games like this."

With DePauw a man down, the Bulldogs let loose on senior goaltender Tom Taubensee. The teams traded goals all fourth quarter but the Butler squad scored last as they were victorious 18-17.

"It came down to numbers. We were missing our key players and our guys just got tired," Taubensee said. "Butler was well conditioned, so defense was rough. We were missing Lewis [Brown] who is a key part of our defense. Also, we were missing key offensive players, namely Reed Seward and Wes Troja. Reed and Troja were clutch, and we had a hard time scoring without him."

The differences between the two halves were too much for the Tigers to overcome.

"We got the ground balls first half. Ray [Marra] was winning faceoffs but he was our only faceoff guy so he got worn out," Kennedy said.

Butler had many advantages in this game - mainly a head coach and more players, something the DePauw team lacks in its early stages as a club.

Statistically the Tigers looked pretty good. Grip added two assists to his seven goals. Junior Andrew Dober scored four goals and Kennedy had three goals and two assists. Other goal scorers were freshman Dan Barth and junior Zach Berndsen.

The Tigers' season comes to a conclusion Saturday at 11 a.m. at the Intramural Fields. The Tigers host Eastern Kentucky University in EKU's season opener, the first time the DePauw team will play a team from outside the state of Indiana.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools