Bulldogs Open Season with Two Big Wins

The University of Minnesota - Duluth Bulldogs mens lacrosse team opened the 2012 MCLA lacrosse season with two big victories this weekend over Upper Midwest Lacrosse League (UMLL) conference foes.

On Saturday, the Bulldogs took on the Marquette University club lacrosse team at the Vadnais Dome in White Bear Lake, MN and defeated them handily, 17-3.  Drake Peterson opened the scoring for the Bulldogs, putting in the first goal of the season on a feed from Alex McNamara.  It would be all Bulldogs after that.  Peterson led the 'dogs with 5 goals and an assist.  Kevin Gaydos added 4 goals and an assist while McNamara was the feeder, contributing 4 assists and tallying one goal.  Matt Murphy and Neal Pester added two goals, while Shayne Thomas added a goal and an assist, and Julian Chamleunsouk and Tyler Lorinser added a goal apiece.  Ben Blaeser, Matt Madden and Justin Vossen each added an assist.  Goalies Joey Slattery, Alex Libera, Jared Klapperich and Andrew Blaeser all shared time in goal giving up only 3 goals.

The Bulldogs faced Iowa State in the second game on Sunday.  This game was even more lopsided than the first as the Bulldogs crushed the Cyclones 23-3.  Kevin Gaydos started the scoring marathon with the first 3 goals of the game.  Gaydos would lead all scorers with 6 goals on the day.  Alex McNamara put in 4 goals and added an assist while Tyler Lorinser also chipped in with 4 goals.  Neal Pester was the primary assist man contributing 4 assists and also adding a goal.  Matt Murphy scored 2 goals and added 2 assists while Justin Vossen and Shayne Thomas each added a goal and had 2 assists.  Drake Peterson scored 1 goal and added 1 assist and Ben Blaeser, Matt Madden, and Stanley Drutowski each added a goal.  Once again, the goalies shared time in goal giving up only 3 goals. 

It was a solid opening weekend for the Bulldogs.  Next Saturday the Bulldogs take on in-state rival University of Minnesota in a re-match of the UMLL title game from a year ago.  The game will be played at the University of Minnesota sports bubble and might be the most important early season UMLL test the 'dogs have had in recent years.  Next weeks game should be a great indicator of who has the inside track for the UMLL title in 2012.