Columbia, Mo. – Tonight the Columbia College men's lacrosse team was back in action when they played host to the Ottawa (Kan.) University Braves in a KCAC matchup. The Cougars, who came into this game on a three game winnings streak, were unable to extend their winning streak as they were defeated by the Braves by a final score of 12-7 to fall to 5-8 on the season and 2-3 in conference play.

This afternoon the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference announced its Men's Lacrosse Player of the Week awards for the week ending on April 15^th. For his efforts this past week, Jeremiah Lerch was recognized as the KCAC Men's Lacrosse Offensive Player of the Week. Lerch, a freshman out of Bowling Green, Ohio, finished the week with seven goals and three assists while leading the team to a 3-0 record. Lerch is Columbia College's first ever lacrosse conference player of the week recipient.

In the first half of the game, both sides came out and exchanged scoring opportunities early but neither side was able to find the back of the net. The Braves took the first lead of the game with four minutes to play in the first quarter and then added a second goal late in the period to take a 2-0 lead in the game. Despite being down, the Cougars were able to bounce back quickly and answered with two goals late in the period to tie the game at two heading into the second. Jeremiah Lerch and Caden Walters had the goals for Columbia.

Ottawa came out in the second quarter and were able to find the back of the net just thirty seconds into the period to take a 3-2 lead. The Cougars answered quickly as Jeremiah Lerch scored his second goal of the game just nine seconds later to tie the game at three. The Braves made the score 4-3 just a few minutes later but a third goal from Lerch with eight minutes to play in the half tied the game at four. Both teams exchanged two goals in the final minutes of the half and the score was tied at six heading into the halftime break. Cooper Heck had both of the goals for Columbia in the final minutes of the half.

Following the halftime break, the Braves came out and scored two quick goals to take an 8-6 lead. Jeremiah Lerch was back at it again just a few minutes later as he put in his fourth goal of the game to cut the lead to 8-7 with seven minutes to play in the quarter. However, the Braves responded with two goals of their own to take a 10-7 lead heading into the fourth.

Ottawa continued to push the tempo in the fourth and were able to extend their lead to 11-7 with 10 minutes to play in the game. The Cougars did their best to get back into the game in the final minutes but they were unable to find the back of the net as the Braves scored one final goal to push their lead to 12-7 and never looked back as they handed Columbia their first loss in four games.

Riley McDermott was in goal tonight as the freshman made seven saves in the contest.

The lacrosse team returns to action on Saturday, April 21^st when they travel to Davenport, Iowa, to take on Central Christian (Kan.) College in a nonconference matchup. The game is set to start at 1 p.m.