LATROBE, Pa. (March 5) – Junior Caleb Hawkins scored a game-high six goals to lead Saint Vincent to a 13-11 win over McDaniel College in a non-conference men's lacrosse battle at UPMC Field.
Spurred by a 7-goal second quarter, the Bearcats (3-0) took a 9-3 lead at the half, and then held off a furious fourth-quarter rally from the Green Terror (2-2) to win their 2022 home-opener.
Hawkins was one of three Bearcats to record multi-goal games, as Jordan Billet scored three and Tyler Condrasky two. Billet added one assist to finish with a four-point day, with teammate Matthew Cassidy dishing four assists. Condrasky finished with three points, adding an assist, while Andrew Coholich scored one goal with one helper and Ethan Cavin added one goal.
In a tightly contested first quarter, Hawkins put the Bearcat on the board with a man-up goal, assisted by Matthew Cassidy, with 7:41 left. Three minutes later, Cassidy assisted Hawkins on another man-up goal to give SVC a 2-0 advantage with 4:34 to go. McDaniel would then find the scoreboard with 1:48 left in the quarter, and the score would remain 2-1 heading into the second frame.
Hawkins' third goal of the game, scored just 40 seconds into the second quarter, would then ignite a big Bearcat run. Thirteen seconds later, Billet upped the SVC lead to 4-1, before Coholich and Hawkins scored 62 seconds apart to increase the Bearcat advantage to 6-2 with just inside nine minutes left in the half. Condrasky made it 7-3 with 2:03 left, before Billet scored twice over the final 80 seconds, including a goal with one second left in the half, to give SVC a 9-3 halftime lead.
The Bearcats kept the momentum coming out of the intermission, as Hawkins and Condrasky each scored in the opening three minutes of the third quarter, before Cavin's goal with 8:51 left in the frame, assisted by Condrasky, pushed the SVC advantage to 12-3.
McDaniel would slowly chip away at the deficit, scoring three unanswered goals in a two-minute span to cut their deficit in half at 12-6, before the Green Terror pulled to within five on a goal in the opening minute of the fourth quarter. After Hawkins scored his sixth goal of the day with 11:34 left in regulation, the Green Terror would score the game's final four goals to cut the deficit to 13-11 with 1:11 remaining. SVC's Brady Beard won the important ensuing faceoff, and the Bearcats were able to keep possession over the final 60 seconds to hold off the McDaniel comeback.
McDaniel held a slim 40-36 advantage in shots, with SVC goalie Noah Sperling recording a season-high 13 saves. The Bearcat penalty-killing unit also held McDaniel scoreless on three man-up opportunities.
Along with Sperling's strong performance in goal, Benjamin Wohlin led the Bearcat defense with five caused turnovers and five ground balls. Cavin and Beard finished with four ground balls apiece, while Hawkins gathered three.
The Bearcats will now continue their three-game homestand with a non-conference bout against Muskingum College at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, March 9, at UPMC Field.
