MOUNT BERRY, Ga. -
Nick English tied for the national lead in faceoffs won in a game as he went 36-of-39 on the "X" as Berry rolled to a 22-13 win over Hendrix in men's lacrosse action from Valhalla Stadium Friday night.
The senior from Georgetown, Texas, lost the second faceoff of the contest and a faceoff with 6:14 to go in the fourth quarter. While he would be whistled for a violation on a faceoff in the second quarter, he would proceed to dominate for the remainder of the night. He would pick up 17 ground balls and would also score two goals and add an assist as part of his night.
The evening started slowly for the Vikings (5-3, 1-1 SAA) as a team. Hendrix held a 2-0 lead before the Vikings got on the board with 5:07 left in the first quarter on a
Connor Ryan tally. That goal would start a 5-0 run to close out the period, spurred on by English winning a faceoff and scoring eight seconds after Ryan's icebreaker.
Berry put seven goals on the board in the second quarter to take a 12-6 lead into the locker room at halftime. With BC leading 8-5, a four-goal run by four different goal scorers late in the quarter pushed the lead up to seven.
Michael McKenzie's hat trick goal nine seconds into the third quarter off a pass from English opening the scoring in the second half.
Jacob Blair would also complete a hat trick in the quarter as the home side out-scored the guests 5-2 in the period.
Michael Beirne finished off his hat trick in the fourth quarter to push the lead to its highest mark of the game at 10, 22-12, as Berry continued to pile it on late. Hendrix (5-6, 0-1 SAA) would get a late consolation goal, but English won the final faceoff of the game with 1:13 to go and the Vikings would run out the clock to get the win.
The Vikings finished the night with 57 ground balls as a team thanks in large part to English's prowess on faceoffs. As a team, Berry had 59 shots, including 38 on target.
BC will be back in action Sunday against Rhodes in SAA play. Opening faceoff is set for 1 p.m.