BLACK MOUNTAIN, N.C.— The Montreat men's lacrosse team dropped its Appalachian Athletic Conference (AAC) competition against the Life University Running Eagles Saturday night. With the 21-9 loss at Pulliam Stadium, the Cavaliers fell to 2-11 overall and 1-5 in AAC play.
 
Life (4-4, 2-3 AAC) broke the ice first and utilized a strong first quarter to immediately take control of the matchup. The Running Eagles struck twice before Johnny Miles cut the lead to one five minutes in. Despite Miles' tally, LU rattled off the remaining five goals of the period to go up 7-1 through 15 minutes.
 
The teams then alternated goals in the second frame beginning with Life's eighth of the competition. Justin Holland buried a feed from Jay Chance prior to Chance netting a shot of his own which brought the score to 10-3 at the half.
 
Thirty minutes into the game, Montreat outshot its opposition 25-23, but Life registered twice as many saves (10-5) and the Running Eagles notched two more shots on goal (15-13). Those disparities coupled with a 10-5 edge in the faceoff circle, a 29-17 lead in ground balls and an 11-7 advantage in clears enabled the visitors to establish their 7-goal cushion.
 
Though Chance struck to open the scoring in the third quarter, LU secured six of the ensuing seven goals with Grayson Scott's tally being the lone for the Cavaliers as Life led 16-5 with 15 minutes on the clock.
 
Eli King got on the board to start the final frame before the Running Eagles grew their lead to its largest of the night at 12 goals (18-6). King grabbed another and Connor Walsh scored as the Cavs trimmed the deficit to 10 with 10:01 left; however, Life netted three of the last four goals to take the contest by 12. Will Sutton collected his first career goal with 1:43 remaining in the matchup.
 
Brandon Sandoval collected 11 saves in net for the Cavaliers as he made the initial start of his career; however, it wasn't enough to stave off the onslaught from the visitors. LU barely outshot Montreat 48-47 but won 26 of 33 faceoffs to hold possession. The Running Eagles also led in shots on target (32-25), successful clears (20-17), caused turnovers (7-4) and ground balls (56-34). Individually, Chance had a 5-point night (2G, 3A), while Miles added three points (1G, 2A).
 
Men's lacrosse now faces Point University next Saturday. Opening faceoff in West Point, Ga. is slated for 1 p.m.