Men's Lacrosse | 4/7/2018 7:54:00 PM

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. – On a cold spring afternoon, seven seniors took to the field in their second-to-last home game of the regular season. Their opponents were the Purdue Boilermakers, who won the night before in a contest against Oakland. Davenport was looking to rebound after their loss last weekend against Minnesota.
 
#15 Davenport vs. Purdue (Saturday, April 7)
Final Score: DU – 16 l Purdue – 6
Records: DU (9-2) l Purdue (3-8)
 
The Panthers got off to a hot start as Bryan Larocque scored 17 seconds into the game on a pass from Dylan Riley. Larocque scored just over a minute later, again with an assist from Dylan Riley. Dylan Riley scored a goal of his own a couple minutes later to put the Panthers up by three. Larocque would tally another one, then Jake Hodges would score only his second of the year to put Davenport up 5-0.

Larocque would score two more 30 seconds apart, with assists coming from Josh Jubenville and Jarred Riley. Purdue would chip away at the DU lead with back-to-back goals from Tyler Arbore. Davenport led 7-2 after the opening 15 minutes.
 
Jarred Riley had eight total assists in the game, and head coach Chris Esquivel knows how important he is to the Davenport offense, "[Jarred] is the quarterback of our offense, he makes sure everyone's on the same page."
 
Purdue rode the momentum they built at the end of the first quarter into the second. Evan Sattler scored two goals a few minutes apart to cut even more into the Davenport lead, but the Panthers would answer right back as Larocque scored his sixth of the game. Jubenville ripped a long-range shot past Purdue goaltender Spencer Kline to give the Panthers a 9-4 lead heading into the half.
 
Davenport started strong in the second half as Dylan Riley scored off an assist from his brother Jarred just a minute in. Max Bush would be the only other scorer in the quarter with his third of the season. Davenport's defense limited Purdue to one shot on goal in the third. Esquivel was happy with the defense's performance, "They work so hard in practice. Scheme-wise we have a support defense that they have bought into. We have a lot of talented defenders and it really sparks the offense."
 
Purdue looked to get back into the game with goals from Rory Fegan and Evan Sattler to cut the Davenport lead to five. However, Jarred Riley decided to shut the door on any Boilermaker comeback with his 25th of the season. Larocque put the game away with four more goals in the final 10 minutes to give him 10 on the day, and the Panthers took the victory, 16-6.
 
Esquivel spoke highly of the Windsor, Ontario native after the game, "Bryan is the best pure finisher I've ever coached. He was really motivated after Minnesota and was ready coming into today."
 
UP NEXT
 
Davenport plays their final home game of the season against the Chippewas from Central Michigan. Central will be coming into Wednesday's meeting 2-8 in the regular season, 0-2 in conference play. "They always give us a competitive game," Esquivel stated about the Chips. "We have to beat them to lock in our spot in the CCLA Tournament, so we're just going to have to focus on ourselves, and be ready to expect them to give us a tough game." The game is scheduled for 8 p.m. on April 11.

Story Credit: Tyler Kuehl