Men's lacrosse drops first game of season

For the first time in its young season, the IU men's lacrosse team walked off the field in defeat.\nDespite a strong second half in which it out-scored visiting No. 11 Oakland University 6-5, the squad dropped the contest 13-9 Saturday night at Mellencamp Pavillion. The Hoosiers had difficulty clearing the ball to the offense and were penalized 12 times in the contest, which led to four Golden Grizzly goals.\n"Most penalties are a lack of concentration and that's what ate us up," coach Todd Boward said. "We made some foolish penalties and had some concentration and focus issues."\nConversely, IU had eight man-up opportunities but failed to capitalize with a goal on any of them.\n"We couldn't hold onto the ball long enough on man-up," said IU attackman Matt Hof, who scored three goals in the game. "Whenever we lost the ball, we weren't able to get possession again when we had the advantage."\nAt halftime, Boward called upon the services of back-up goaltender Kyle Christie to replace starter Steve Brown who allowed eight goals coupled with only five saves in the first half.\n"I felt like Steve was missing some shots and they were making shots on him from the outside," Boward said. "I have Kyle on the side as my relief guy and he stepped up and did an excellent job and that got us back in the game a little."\nThe Oakland attackmen ripped shot after shot against Christie in the third quarter, but the junior held his ground. He had 13 saves in the contest while allowing five goals, good for a .615 save percentage.\n"Coach told me to get mentally ready right around the end of the first quarter," Christie said. "I actually like coming in cold and getting the adrenaline rush going a little more."\nAfter trailing 8-3 at halftime, the Hoosiers got some momentum going their way in the second half. Freshman Chris Allen scored two goals in the third quarter and sophomore attackman James O'Callaghan added another. \nThe Hoosiers were within two goals of the Golden Grizzlies with 8:05 to go in the game, but Oakland University's attackman Nate Reynolds proved to be too much in the fourth quarter. He netted three goals in the last frame to put the game out of reach for IU.\nHof scored two of his three goals in the first half while freshman Brian Mecsey added a goal in the second quarter.\n"They played hard and fought back," said Boward of his team's second half play. "When you consider that this is the 11th team in the nation and we were within two goals with eight minutes to play -- that's pretty phenomenal"