LATROBE, Pa. (April 13) – The Saint Vincent men's lacrosse team used a pair of long scoring runs to defeat Presidents' Athletic Conference rival Westminster 14-9 in a battle on the UPMC Field Turf.
After the Bearcats (8-1, 2-1 PAC) used a 6-1 surge in the second quarter to come back from an early deficit and take an 8-4 halftime lead, the Titans (6-4, 2-2) countered with four straight goals over the first five minutes of the second half to tie the game at 8-all. Saint Vincent charged right back and put the game away with four unanswered goals over the final seven minutes of the third quarter.
Seven different players scored goals for Saint Vincent, led by
Jordan Billet's 4-goal performance.
Tyler Condrasky recorded a five-point day, with three goals and two assists, while
Alec Richard scored twice and assisted on two goals and
Matthew Cassidy netted two goals and added one assist.
Jacob Crumling,
Justin Wodarek and
Andrew Coholich also added goals for the Bearcats.
Saint Vincent goalie
Noah Sperling was stellar in goal, recording 15 saves, including many at close range, over 60 minutes of action.
Max Schuler tallied three caused turnovers and gathered three ground balls, while
Ethan Cavin caused two turnovers and collected four ground balls.
The Titans jumped in front 3-1 with 2:46 left in the first quarter, before Richard tallied his first goal of the day with 14 seconds left in the quarter to make it a one-goal game. Richard's unassisted strike awoke the Bearcats, as they would score the first four goals of the second quarter – with two from Billet and one apiece from Cassidy and Coholich – to jump in front 5-3. Eight seconds after Bilet's second goal, the Titans temporarily halted the momentum with a goal to cut the deficit to one, but SVC scored twice over the final 80 seconds, with Wodarek's goal coming with 1:26 left and Crumling's with just 10 seconds remaining, to take an 8-4 lead into the intermission.
The Titans responded with four straight goals coming out of halftime to tie the game at 8-all with 9:30 left in the third quarter, but as was the case in the first half, the Bearcats answered right back. Billet's third goal of the game gave the Bearcats back the lead, 9-8, with 7:54 left, before Condrasky scored two goals in a 17-second span to push SVC's lead to 11-8. Richard then closed the quarter's scoring with 1:25 left to make it 12-8.
After the teams shared a number of scoreless possessions throughout the fourth quarter, Condrasky potted his third goal of the day with 3:38 left in regulation to push the lead to 13-8. The Titans promptly answered with their ninth goal of the day with 2:48 to go, but 90 seconds later, Billet put the game away with his fourth goal of the day to close out the scoring.
The Bearcats will now have a week-long respite before returning to action on Wednesday, April 20, with a 7 p.m. matchup at PAC foe Washington & Jefferson.
