GREENSBORO, N.C. -- After the women's lacrosse team dominated their ODAC matchup just a few hours prior, the men's lax squad looked to continue earlier trends versus Randolph-Macon, who received votes in the latest Division III men's lacrosse poll. Hanging in through halftime, the Yellow Jacket offense took flight in the second half, putting the Quakers out of distance in a 22-6 defeat.
With the defeat, Guilford's record now sits at 6-7, but has an even conference record at 3-3. Randolph-Macon heads to 11-2, 4-2 in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC).
Darius Safavi-Abbassi (Culver City, Calif.) posted the same amount of saves in his last outing with 16, but let in 22 with a save percentage of .432; his record falls to 6-6 in the loss. Yellow Jacket keeper only made four saves, but let in just six goals with a save percentage of .400, moving his record to 11-2.
In another low-scoring affair from the Quakers, Gavin Brown (Charleston, S.C.) posted a hat-trick, his fifth of the year. Freshman Jacob Mills (Culpeper, Va.) got the start on offense, and produced a goal and assist, his second multi-point effort this spring.
Jax Atkins (Mechanicsville, Va.) fared his own against the R-MC trio of faceoff specialists, going 15-32 in the circle, and picking up six ground balls. Ezekiel Gravely (Morganton, N.C.) topped his teammates in said defensive category, with seven to his name.
For the visitors, Logan Sinsebox and Jack Smith netted eight goals combined, divided evenly amongst the attackers.
R-MC frazzled GC immediately from the starting faceoff, scoring two within a minute for the quick 2-0 lead. It took over five minutes for the Quakers to relieve themselves of defensive duties, and Brown took the first advantage possible on the offensive end, scoring to cut the Yellow Jackets' lead to one. The contest smoothed out from here, as both squads were eager to pounce on the others' mistakes; Randolph-Macon pounced on a missed Guilford shot, and worked their way down the field for an eventual score, their third of the quarter. Turnovers and stonewall defense from the visitors were turned into rewards on the other side, as they scored two more down the first stanza stretch to eventually lead 5-1, after fifteen minutes.
The duo of Grant Sobel and Jack Smith dug Guilford deeper into a hole, finding their way past Safavi-Abbassi to extend R-MC's lead to six. Seth Woods (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) ended GC's dry spell with his 26th score of the season, and the Quakers got some defensive help later on to aid their comeback quest. Wyatt Dwyer (Seattle, Wash.) forced his first of a team-high two turnovers, eventually leading to Brown scoring his second, and the team's third. The spurt was short-lived, as the Yellow Jacket offense buzzed on, netting their eighth and ninth scores past the five-minute mark. Jax Atkins did his best to combat events of prior, winning the next faceoff, and finding his teammate Mills for his first, and third of the season. Randolph-Macon would wrap up the first half in good spirits, however, scoring right before the buzzer to reach double-digits, 10-4 at the break.
Goals from Brown and Bashwyn Fitch (Charleston, S.C.) were canceled out in swift fashion, as R-MC thoroughly put the Quakers away with a 12-2 scoring run across the final 30 minutes of play. By the final buzzer, the visitors exited Armfield with a 22-6 victory over Guilford.
GC hits the road for the next few contests before a season-ending homestand late in April. Roanoke is next on their docket this upcoming Wednesday, March 10 in Salem, Virginia, with the first faceoff set for 7:00 p.m.
