BRIDGEWATER, Va. -- The Bridgewater College men's lacrosse team used a trio of man-up goals late in the fourth quarter to lead to a 15-13 win against Misericordia at the Jopson Athletic Complex on Tuesday evening.

THE BASICS
Final Score: Bridgewater 15, Misericordia 13
Records: Bridgewater 3-0; Misericordia 2-2

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Cougars scored the game's first goal less than 30 seconds into the contest as Kyle Vandenberg found twine on a pass from Robert Wagner. The visitors doubled their lead as Michael Kilgallon III netted an unassisted score.
• The first Bridgewater goal came from Gabriel Alexander who won the ensuing faceoff and sprinted up field for a goal only seconds following the MU score. The Eagles tied the game on a goal from Colby Smith on a pass from Riley Stewart to set the game at 2-2. The Cougars got a pair of goals back near the end of the quarter and took a 4-2 lead into the second quarter. 
• The Eagles got one in under 15 seconds into the second period as Eddie Ross IV ran the length of the field and netted an unassisted goal, while Chris Martel added a man-up score at the 13-minute mark to tied the game at 4-4. Adding to the scoresheet was Trevor McClelland with 12:-6 left in the half before Luke Wendler pitched in a man-down goal on an assist by Brennan McKeown, and Hayden Gourley scored to give the Eagles a 7-4 lead with 7:22 left in the half. Misericordia got one back from Ryan Vandenberg during an extra-man opportunity but Martel scored a second man-up goal of the quarter on an assist from Connor McLean to maintain an 8-5 edge. The Cougars struck back for three goals in the last four minutes to send the game into halftime with an even 8-8 score.
• The scoring run for Misericordia continued in the opening minutes of the third as Connor Bevan and Wagner added tallies to put the visitors up10-8 with 9:38 in the third quarter. Martel and McLean connected again to cut the lead down to 10-9 before Riley Stewart stretched the field and got another tally to once again tie the contest. Wendler's second goal of the game gave Bridgewater a short-lived 11-10 lead, but Ryan Vandenberg notched the game at 11-11 after three full quarters. 
• Kyle Vandenberg found a pass from Trey Stasse to put the Cougars in the lead with 13:20 to go in regulation, but a Grant Nyland score tied the game again. Kilgallon scored the final of his team-high five goals to push the visitors in front, 13-12, with seven and a half minutes left in the game. 
• Following a penalty on Misericordia that resulted in a pair of locked in penalties, Bryce Burgit tied the game at 6:23 with man-up goal followed by Martel with a pair of man-up scores to lift the Eagles in front, 15-13. The Cougars had offensive chances in the waning minutes of the game and BC was called for a pair of penalties in the last 30 seconds of the game, but a pair of saves, a shot that hit the post and two attempts that went wide helped hold the visitors off as the Eagles walked away with a 15-13 win in their home opener.

GAME STATS

• Martel led the game with six points on five goals and an assist and also grabbed a ground ball in the win. Wendler tallied a pair of goals, while Alexander, McClelland, Stewart, Gourley, Ross, Smith, Nyland and Burgit all scored goals.
• McLean and Stewart led with a pair of assists each.
• Alexander went an incredible 24-for-27 (.889) on faceoffs and picked up 20 ground balls. The 24 wins and the 20 ground balls both set new single-game marks for the program.
• McLean, Tyler Carney and Samuel Sharps all grabbed three ground balls, while Grant Heidebrecht led the team with two caused turnovers. Ryan Addison also added a CT in the win.
• In the cage, Carney stopped 12 shots in all 60 minutes, while Sean Wallace made nine saves in just over 56 minutes before Matt Coates finished the game in goal.
• Misericordia outshot Bridgewater 48-45, while BC garnered a 39-32 edge in ground balls.

UP NEXT
Bridgewater returns to action on Sunday, March 12, as it hosts Ohio Northern at 2 pm.