The Saint Vincent men's lacrosse team opened the 2021 season on the road against Franciscan University in a Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup. The Bearcats dominated the Barons with an 18-4 victory.
 
The Bearcats (1-0, 1-0) opened up the game with a quick goal from Jacob Visalli. Saint Vincent fired back 12 seconds later as Frank Casile scored an unassisted goal.
 
Saint Vincent added six more goals in the first period and led Franciscan (0-1, 0-1) 8-0 at the end of the first period. Visalli tallied three goals in the period.
 
At the start of the second period, the Bearcats increased their lead to 10 as Mitchell Bachman added two quick goals just 31 seconds apart.
 
A little over a minute later, Caleb Hawkins scored his first goal of the game with an assist from Visalli, increasing the SVC lead to 11. Saint Vincent added two more goals, capitalizing their lead to 13 over Franciscan.
 
The Barons scored its first goal of the game at the 8:04 mark of the second period but the Bearcats scored the next two goals to end the half with a 15-1 lead against Franciscan.
 
The Bearcats continued the dominance with a quick goal to start the third period, increasing their lead to 15. At the 8:17 mark of the third, the Barons answered with an unassisted goal.
 
Things were quiet for both Saint Vincent and Franciscan until the Barons scored with 26 seconds remaining in the third period. Saint Vincent led 16-3 at the end of the third period.
 
In the fourth, Frank Casile started the scoring for the Bearcats less than a minute into the period with an assist from Alec Richard. The Barons committed a penalty and Saint Vincent took that opportunity to increase its lead 18-3 from Max Schuler.
 
Franciscan scored one more goal in the game as the Bearcats secured the 18-4 victory.
 
Visalli finished the game with four goals and three assists for a total of seven points.
 
Other leading scorers were Hawkins with three goals, Bachman scored three and Casile and Andrew Coholich with two apiece.
 
Caleb Bouch started in the net and picked up the win for the Bearcats.
 
Saint Vincent returns to the field on Saturday, March 6 to face Grove City College. Start time is 1:00 p.m.