Knapp Scores Six Goals in 13-1 Scots Lacrosse Win

Perez ties school record with five assists

by Nathan Baliva

Richmond, Ind. (03/27/2021) — The Monmouth College men's lacrosse team dominated Earlham College from the opening faceoff for a non-conference 13-1 road win on Friday night. The Scots are now 2-0 on the season as Jeff Knapp (Nolensville, Tennessee) returned to the lineup with six goals and Mitch Perez (Glen Ellyn, Illinois) tied a school record with five assists.

"It was a great night for us as we got some valuable experience and continued to develop as a group," said head coach Chris Klaiber. "We improved in many areas from last week and still having a lot of firsts with many guys having played in just one or two college games."

The Scots got on the board midway through the first quarter as Kain Donohoo (Saint Charles, Illinois) scored his sixth goal of the young season on an assist from Knapp. Just 29 seconds later Knapp made it 2-0 with an unassisted goal, his first of the season.

Michael Casey (Chicago, Illinois) put the Scots up 3-0 on an assist from Perez with 6:12 to play in the first quarter. Knapp scored his second of the game just 36 seconds into the second quarter before Jack Koenn (Dexter, Michigan) made it 5-0 on another Perez assist.

Donohoo's second of the game put Monmouth on top 6-0 and just a minute later Knapp made it 7-0 with his third of the game. That goal started a stretch where Knapp scored four straight goals from 3:41 to play in the second quarter to 5:51 left in the third. By time his scoring blitz was over the Scots led 10-0 and Knapp had tied his career-high with six goals.

"It was great to have Jeff back in the lineup," said Klaiber. "He did well to lead and organize the offense and even better to find the net six times."

Monmouth kept scoring in the fourth quarter against the Quakers. Korbyn Personett (Pittsfeld, Illinois) made it 11-0 with 14:02 to play as Perez picked up his fourth assist. Those two combined again to make it 12-0 as Perez tied the school record for assists in a game with five. Personett picked up a hat-trick with an unassisted goal with 4:24 to play as the Scots went on top 13-0.

Earlham avoided the shutout as Cameron Jackson scored with six seconds to play, beating backup goalie Nehemiah Declaw (Aurora, Colorado). Starting goalie Teagan Simons (Littleton, Colorado) made seven save in 51 minutes of action without allowing a goal.

"We need to keep pushing as a team in practice this week," said Klaiber. "We have a lot in front of us this season to achieve our goals."

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots came within six seconds of their first-ever shutout and the one goal allowed is a team recordThey had previously allowed two goals on six occasionsThe five assists for Perez are a career-high and tie the school record set by Thomas Van Alstine in 2018 and matched by Chase Cranford in 2019Perez is second on the Scots career list with 26 assists, seven behind Cranford's recordKnapp also scored six goals on February 29, 2020 against WabashVan Alstine holds Monmouth's single-game record with seven goals in that game against WabashKnapp has 59 career goals, 10 behind Van Alstine's recordGordon Kiesgen (Spring Grove, Illinois) had 11 ground balls, tied for second-most in a game in school history, one behind the record Monmouth has 87 shots in two games this seasonThe 12-goal margin of victory is the third largest in school historyThe 19 shots allowed are the fourth fewest in school historyThe 13 goals are tied for the eighth most and the eight assists are tied for fourth most in a gameThe Scots will play Midwest Lacrosse Conference game at home on Thursday, April 1, against Cornell College at 7 p.m.