Saturday, Oct 15, 2022 the Men’s Lacrosse team for Quincy University traveled to Lisle, Illinois to play and compete in two extended scrimmages.

It was a round-robin style play day for three universities that traveled Benedictine University. The BU Eagles, the QU Hawks, and the William Penn University Statesmen participated. 

Benedictine University is a member of the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference in Division III and William Penn University if a member of the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference in NAIA Division II.

When the Hawks arrived on site, William Penn and Benedictine were already playing, the end result of that game being 15 to 3 in favor of the Statesmen over the Eagles.

The first game of the day for the Hawks was when they took on the William Penn Statesmen, it was a slow start for the Hawks as the Statesmen opened the scoring but they soon rallied minutes later and once they got going with scoring goals on the offensive end, then on the other side of the ball defensively getting turnovers and saved shots there was no stopping the Hawks. 

“Just being back out there with all my teammates and getting to compete and go up against different people then your own teammates was the best part about both games this weekend,” senior captain Nick Woodworth said. 

They gained the lead with the effort of two scores back-to-back coming from sophomore Brooks Griffith and Junior Jordan Ernst, the Hawks never lost the lead from that point on. 

The final score in the first scrimmage of the day for the Hawks ended in favor of them by a score of 17 to 6.

Other highlighted players to have productive days in the statistics were junior goalie Ryan Riggs who had 23 saves on the day, sophomore Connor Nock led the defensive with five caused turnovers and the offensive pairing of Mason Marano and Blaine Lowrance combining for nine points between the two.

With a quick 30-minute break between the scrimmages for the Hawks it gave the chance for players who had family who came out to the games to interact with them for a bit. It gave the team a chance to celebrate the birthday of freshman Nate Osborn who turned 18 on Saturday, Oct. 15. 

“I knew my family was going to be at the game to watch us play and because of my birthday too, but I figured we wouldn’t celebrate it till later at dinner or something. So it was really cool and nice of my parents to bring all the donuts and other things they brought for everyone to celebrate,” Osborn said. 

In the second scrimmage the BU Eagles had a bit more trouble in keeping the game close at the beginning stages, but throughout the second half a winded Hawks roster was still able to outlast the pursuit of the Eagles in a 14 to 8 fashion with a Hawks win.

The Hawks had a few players go down throughout the game with injuries and others very banged up. Head Coach Eric Ruppel made sure to utilize the entire depth of the roster to help prevent the overuse and wearing down of players early into the Hawks fall lacrosse scrimmage season. 

This game was also unique and special for another player for the Hawks, graduate senior Patrick Brunken attended BU, where he and the Eagles won back-to-back NACC championships in 2021 and 2022, before ultimately opting to take his fifth year of school attending QU. 

“It was a nice homecoming moment for sure with all of my family being there for me and getting to compete against my former teammates which was a weird change, and then my brother being on our team too. It was a cool moment I’ll remember for a long time,” Brunken said. 

The Hawks have two more weekends of fall scrimmages to come, the first at Quincy University when they take on Missouri-Baptist University Saturday, Oct. 22.

The following weekend the Hawks will once again travel to Monmouth, Illinois to take on Monmouth College to wrap up the fall season. 

The next time the Hawks will take the field to compete against another team after all the scrimmages will be the highly anticipated spring season in 2023 that the athletes and coaches are looking forward to.