Missouri State Men's Lacrosse

 Missouri State traveled to The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville on Saturday to open their regular season. The Bears would come away with a win to the tune of 14-8.

Missouri State was 5-0 all time against the Razorbacks, but under new coaching and with new talent, the Razorbacks were ready to snap the streak.

The first goal of the game was scored by Missouri State senior Ben Scherer on an extra man opportunity. Arkansas would not be intimidated and ran a failed substitution by Missouri State back down the field to net one of their own. The game was tied 1-1.

Minutes later, the Razorbacks netted one more of their own on a dodge from the right side alley, as they took the lead to end the quarter 2-1.

The next goal of the game was scored by the Bears after they cleared the ball man down, and found a scoring opportunity with freshman Joey Saba. The game was tied 2-2.

Missouri State then scored again off the next possesion, when a failed clear by Arkansas lead to freshman Taylor Klein finding himself with an open net. He put the Bears ahead 3-2.

The remainder of the half went Missouri State's way. The Bears scored 4 more and held Arkansas to only one. At halftime the score was 7-3 Missouri State.

In the third quarter, Arkansas found some energy when they scored off of a turnover by MSU's man-up team. After the Arkansas man-down score, the Razorbacks scored twice more to the Bears one. The score was 8-6 Missouri State nearing the end of the third quarter.

Missouri State found their stride as Taylor Kelin found another goal to put the Bears ahead 9-6. On the following possesion, sophomore Cam Bostwick made his only goal of the day count, as his 14 yard low to high shot got past the U of A goalie. The Bears now led 10-6. 

Moments later, sophomore Chris Callaham found himself open on the crease when he beat his defender on a dodge from X and did not draw a slide. Callaham scored to put the Bears up 11-6 going into the fourth quarter.

The Bears kept the momentum going in the 4th quarter despite the amount of man-down time they played. Missouri State scored three more goals in the final quarter, while Arkansas scored twice, both times while being man-up. 

The final score was 14-8 Missouri State.

Defensively, the Bears were led by Dave Worsowicz and Ryan Moriearty who both had 5 ground ball pick ups. Missouri State held Arkansas to 25 shots in the entire game, and only 12 were on goal. The Bears had 10 takeaways, including 2 from Mike Queener and Matt Cissi.

Offensively, the Bears were lead by Taylor Klein (4 g), Joey Saba (2 g, 2 a) and Will Squires (2 g, 2 a). Missouri State shot the ball 59 times in the game, 32 of which were on cage. Missouri State also scored 4 out of 6 times man-up.

At the face-off X, Josh Harmon won a 19 of 25 face-offs. The 19 wins is a new Missouri State single game record. Harmon also had 10 ground ball pick ups and one assist in the game. He was awarded the game ball by Coach Callaham. 

Missouri State continues their season Saturday as they take on the University of Kansas, and Missouri University of Science and Technology.