Brayden Fountain was proud how his Army teammates finished their two-game Georgia road trip Monday, knocking off host Mercer 16-7 in Macon, Ga.
Eleven Black Knights score at least one goal.
More importantly, though, the Army sophomore, who is second on the team in goals scored and is clearly a key component of the offensive scheme that has Army undefeated at 5-0, says that these games have given the Black Knights a great start as they begin their Patriot League schedule. No. 11-ranked Army will host Holy Cross at Michie Stadium starting at noon on Saturday.
“These five games have been extremely important for us and I think will help us as we start the Patriot League,” said Fountain. “I think we are in a really good position right now because we had some real tests thus far and have managed to win every game even after trailing in some of them. It is good for us to play these games because it gets us ready for what is ahead and the Patriot League is going to be very tough.”
As they did against Michigan in Atlanta on Saturday, Army’s four Georgia natives were dominating against Mercer. Fountain scored four goals and added an assist, while senior and playmaker Evan Plunkett had three goals and three assists and Hill Plunkett added a goal and one assist. Goalie Sean Byrne again proved himself in the net, stopping 14 of 21 shots.
“It was great coming down to Georgia and playing a couple of games in front of our families and friends,” Fountain added. “And, it is great playing with these other guys (from Georgia) in our home state. The entire experience really made it nice to play in front of our friends and to come away with two big wins.”
As Army coach Joe Alberici noted, the victory over Mercer, now 3-2 on the season, also allowed Army to play some additional players who have not yet seen much time on the field. That paid off as four Black Knight players, freshman Aidan Bross, Caleb Caldwell and Tyler Mathews and sophomore Tommy Stines, scored their first goals of the season.
“Mercer did not play over the weekend and they are an improving program, staying close with (No. 3-ranked) Richmond for a half earlier in the year,” Alberici said. “I was pleased with how our senior leaders had the team ready to play with just two days rest and I am very pleased with the fact that we were able to get a lot of guys into this game who will be really critical to our success down the road. It was an assume day for us.”
Looking ahead, no one on the Army team is taking Holy Cross, or any Patriot League team for granted. With just 17 teams qualifying for the NCAA tournament in May, the entire team is aware how important it is to win the Patriot League and get its automatic qualification. As Army has unfortunately discovered over the last two season, an at-large bid is hard to come by.
“The goal is to put ourselves into the best position to get into the NCAA tournament,” added Fountain, who said that he was eager to go to West Point and believes that his lacrosse skills helped him get into the academy. “It was very important to get off to a hot start. Now we just have to focus on winning and make it impossible for the (selection committee) to leave us out.”
Alberici, always his cautious self, said the team is bussing home from Georgia and will not arrive at West Point until late Tuesday.
“Holy Cross is an improving team that beat Hofstra earlier in the year,” he said. “We are not going to have a lot of time to get ready for them but I think our guys have a good grasp of what is ahead and what they need to do to be ready.”
