MONMOUTH, ILL. (05/05/2021) The Monmouth College Fighting Scots men’s lacrosse team made history on Wednesday as they played in, and won, their first-ever postseason contest. The Scots (6-2) knocked off the Cornell Rams 14-6 in the Midwest Lacrosse Conference semifinals to advance to Saturday’s conference championship game in Minnesota.
“It’s really exciting to get this win today,” said coach Chris Klaiber. “These seniors took a lot of lumps their first two years. We had it rolling last year when things were cut short and I’m so glad they are getting rewarded now.”
The Scots fell behind 1-0 in the first 90 seconds of the game against #3 Cornell. But with 10:01 to play in the quarter, Jeff Knapp (Nolensville, Tennessee) found the back of the net and started an amazing run for the Scots. Five seconds later Knapp scored again for a 2-1 lead and 56 second after that Michael Casey (Chicago, Illinois) made it 3-0.
Senior Mitch Perez (Glen Ellyn, Illinois) scored with 8:10 to play in the first and Kain Donohoo (St. Charles, Illinois) made it 5-1 with 7:46 to play. Perez’s second of the quarter came 13 seconds later and Knapp capped a crazy three minutes with his third goal at 7:03.
Knapp made it four in the quarter with 5:07 to play as the Scots went on top 8-1. Donohoo gave Monmouth nine straight goals when he scored with 4:02 remaining to make it nine goals in 5:59.
“That was wild to say the least,” said Klaiber. “Gordon (Kiesgen) killed it on the faceoffs and we kept getting the ball down field and putting it in the net. Our young guys got excited and we just went on a tear there for a little bit.”
The Scots however didn’t score over the next two quarters. The lead was 9-3 at halftime and 9-5 after the third quarter. Cornell scored 48 seconds into the fourth quarter and the SCots elad was down to 9-6.
Donohoo took over from there with two goals in five minutes. He scored unassisted with 13:23 to play and again with 8:53 left.
“Credit Cornell, they work really hard and made some great saves, put pressure on us,” said Klaiber. “Kain put us on his back at the end, and made a couple nice plays to get us going again.”
Knapp picked up two assists in the fourth quarter as Kiesgen (Spring Grove, Illinois) and Korbyn Personett (Pittsfield, Illinois) scored for a 13-6 lead. Mason Sanford (Peoria, Illinois) capped the scoring with 47 seconds to play.
The Scots advance to the MLC Championship game Saturday at Northwestern Minnesota. UNW got a bye in the semifinals after Northland withdrew. Saturday’s game is scheduled to start at 4 p.m. and the winner gets the MLC’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
“I am really excited for these guys to get the chance to play for the championship,” said Klaiber. “We are happy to have the opportunity to go out and fight for it.”
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Neither team had ever played in a conference tournament game before Wednesday…The Scots finished the season 3-1 at April Zorn Stadium..They went 3-0 overall against Cornell with a 44-19 goal differential…Five seniors were honored in a pre-game ceremony…With six points, Knapp passed Thomas Van Alstine for the most points in a Scots career…He now has 89 points and also holds the record for most career goals at 77…With 31 points Donohoo moved into seventh on the Scots career list…he is the ninth player to have at least 20 goals in a season for the Scots…Knapp has 24 goals, fifth-most in a single season…Goalkeeper Teagan Simons (Littleton, Colorado) moved into third on the Scots career list or games played (13), minutes (758) and saves (142)…He had eight saves on Wednesday…Kiesgen won 21-of-22 faceoffs…Senior Nick Thomas (Elmhurst, Illinois) led the Scots with six ground balls.
***Recap courtesy of Monmouth College Athletics***
