Union, New Jersey —The Oberlin College men's lacrosse team worked its way within one in the fourth quarter but fell to Kean University 8-6 at Kean Alumni Stadium.
Tom Decker highlighted the game with his three point performance as he scored two goals and added an assist. Four other Yeomen goals in the game headlined by
Ian McCague who also added an assist.
The Cougars jumped out to an early 4-0 lead capped off by a Tyler Roberto man-up goal with 14:39 left in the second quarter, but the Yeomen battled back to make to bring it within two before the half.
Jay Messina netted his 11th goal of the season at 7:31 and Decker buried his 12th tally of his rookie campaign off a feed from
Steve Kelleher in the final minute of the half to make it 4-2.
The Cougars tacked on another goal, but Oberlin would score the next two goals to make a one goal game, 5-4.
Jake Parentis was assisted by McCague for the first goal and Decker forced a double from the "X" leaving
John Sutherland one-on-one with the goalie just outside the crease with 2:48 left in the quarter. Kean's Mike Sullen would score his second goal of the game before the third period horn to make it 6-4 heading into the final 15 minutes of play.
After the Cougars scored the first goal of the stanza, the Yeomen netted two more to cut the lead back down to 7-6. McCague got on the board and then Decker ripped his second goal of the game from long range, but that was as close as Oberlin would get to evening the score.
Despite the loss, Oberlin outshot Kean 43-31, but only put 24 of its shots on cage, and also won the battle for ground balls, 30-25. The Yeomen also committed all four penalties of the game, but the man-down crew had a strong day as they allowing just one goal during the four minutes and 30 seconds of penalty time.
The Yeomen dropped to 5-2 and the Cougars improved to 4-2 on the year.
Oberlin will look to put an end to its two game skid and get its first conference win of the year on Saturday when they welcome Wittenberg University to Knowlton Athletic Conference. The opening face-off is slated for a 2 p.m.
