Second-half stunner.

In their best performance of the season so far, GCU Men's Lacrosse 'righted the ship' again after Friday's 5-11 loss to the University of Colorado with a 10-7 victory over the Boston College Eagles on Saturday, evening up their overall season record at 3-3.

Boston College opened the scoring at the 10:30 mark of the first quarter and then followed up with a bounce-shot goal from senior Connor McMahon, giving the Eagles a quick 2-0 lead. With one minute remaining in the first quarter, the Lopes got their first goal from junior attackman Marshall Moore.

From there it was a constant back-and-forth affair, with Boston College consistently answering when GCU tried to close the gap. At halftime, the Lopes trailed 3-4.
With a seemingly renewed sense of urgency, GCU's defense stifled an Eagles man-up opportunity to begin the second half and then got the score-evening fourth goal they had been waiting for at the 12:35 mark of the quarter.

"The players had a level of focus in the second half that we haven't seen all season long," said GCU Head Coach Jeff Guy.

Fighting for control of the driver's seat, GCU went up 6-4 before allowing a third quarter buzzer-beating Boston College goal and then another quick Eagles score to start the fourth quarter, tying the game again at 6-6.

Then the Lopes took full control, scoring four in a row (including the first career goal from GCU sophomore attackman Jack Jenneman) while allowing no Eagles goals for the first 14 minutes of the final quarter.

"We had a lot of success in the second half offensively attacking from the back of the cage," said Guy. "Marshall [Moore] and Caleb [Brager] were able to take advantage of open cutting lanes, and Liam [Reid] was able to find them."

Brager and Moore finished the game with three goals apiece while Reid tallied three assists.

A key driver of the fourth-quarter rally was the way the Lopes dominated the possession game, much in part because of junior face-off man Cruise Clay, who won 68% of his draws on the day.

"Cruise has been playing really well for us all season," said Guy. "It was a great advantage to winning face offs when we took the lead in the fourth quarter. It allowed us to drain the clock down and control the ball at the end of the game."

The Eagles got one last score in with 25 seconds remaining in the game to make the final score 10-7, Lopes.

The Lopes (3-3 overall, 0-0 SLC) return to action this weekend on Colter Field, facing off with Sonoma State University at 12PM on Sunday.