Laxcats fail to finish strong, lose 22-16

Nicholas Valenzuela Arizona Daily Wildcat The Arizona men's lacrosse team lost a chance at a home playoff berth this weekend by losing to Chapman 22-16. The Laxcats lost a fourth quarter lead and allowed Champman to go on a 9-1 run to close thegame. Their season finale takes place next week at UC-Santa Barbara.

The game had major playoff implications, with the winner hosting Western Collegiate Lacrosse League's playoff quarterfinals in two weeks.

The No. 5 Laxcats (9-3, 9-2 in the WCLL) lead 15-13 at the start of the fourth quarter, but Chapman (10-3, 10-2 in the WCLL) rallied and never looked back.

"(We) just did not come out here with much energy tonight," Laxcats head coach Mickey-Miles Felton said. "Chapman came out on fire and finished the game strong."

The Panthers opened the game with two quick goals. The Laxcats came back, scoring two goals on wrap-arounds, one by senior Josh Safara and one by Bret Withey to tie the game at 2-2. Chapman then went on a 4-0 run to stretch the lead to 6-2 with 2:45 remaining in the first quarter. After an offsides penalty, Withey scored his second goad of the period with five seconds left to make the score 7-4 after one quarter.

In the second quarter, the Laxcats and Panthers exchanged goals after Arizona went on a 3-0 run to tie the game at 7 with 10:35 remaining. After Chapman scored on a breakaway goal to even the score at 9, Arizona went on a 2-0 run to go into the locker room with an 11-9 lead at the half.

The third quarter was much of the same as the Laxcats increased their lead to 12-9 on Safara's fourth goal of the game. The Panthers then went on a 3-0 run to tie the game at 12. After the tie, the two teams traded goals until junior Max Webber scored three consecutive goals to give the Laxcats a 15-13 lead at the end of three.

In the fourth, a UA goal by Webber was disallowed because of too many men on the field, which lead to the momentum shift to the Panthers. Chapman's scored the game's last five goals to cinch the victory.

"Chapman played within themselves and we came out flat and could not recover," Webber said.

Safara had five goals and a assist, Webber had three goals and Withey had four goals and two assists for the Laxcats in a losing effort.

The loss for the Laxcats means that in order to make it to the National Collegiate Club Championship in St. Louis, Mo. next month, they will have to play the next four weeks on the road, including their season finale at UC-Santa Barbara next weekend.