WAUKESHA, Wis. – The Carroll University men's lacrosse team fell to the Beloit College Buccaneers by a heartbreaking score of 8-9 under the lights of Schneider Stadium on Wednesday night. Zach Mehrtens' career game of five goals on 14 shots was not enough to push the Pios past Beloit. Joe Harrison won 14-19 face-offs and assisted on three goals.
 
The Pioneers (0-4) out-shot the Bucs by nine total shots, after ripping off 28 in the first half. Carroll's turnovers proved to be costly, with 14 in the fourth quarter to total 36 for the game. The Pios went 25-41 on clear attempts, but just 4-10 in the fourth quarter when they were attempting to equalize the game. Cole Faust collected 11 saves but allowed the nine Beloit goals in 60 minutes.
 
Harrison won the opening face-off, leading to Danny McGee taking the first shot of the game. Three minutes into the period, Mehrtens scored his first unassisted. Beloit responded 3:30 later with an equalizer and finished the first quarter with a 4-2 lead after an offside call on Josh Kovach gave the Bucs an extra-man opportunity. Harrison won the first face-off of the second period, leading to Kovach's first goal and Harrison's second assist. After Beloit moved the score to 5-3, Mehrtens and Sam Kopshinsky scored within a minute of each other to tie the game at five apiece. The Bucs responded with a goal soon after, but after the officials found an illegal stick, Isaac Williams scored the main up goal with under two minutes left in the first half. Both teams were knotted up at six goals going into halftime.
 
The Pioneers began the second half with possession thanks to the illegal equipment penalty still in effect from the first half. After nearly 10 scoreless minutes, Beloit broke the tie with an unassisted goal and followed it up with another score less than a minute later. The Pios recorded three shots on goal in the third quarter, with three saves by Beloit. The Bucs took a three-goal lead with 11:03 remaining in the game. Mehrtens and McGee connected to bring the score to 9-7. With four minutes remaining, Mehrtens found nylon for the fifth time and cut the Beloit lead to one. After a Beloit turnover, the Pioneers called timeout to talk it through, but four costly turnovers on clear attempts kept the Pioneers out of their offensive zone.
 
The Pioneers will take a week to game-plan for their next opponent, Concordia-Chicago on March 30 at 1 PM.