GREENSBORO, N.C. (March 9) – Six different Saint Vincent players scored at least one goal, while nine tallied at least one point, in the Bearcat men's lacrosse team's 15-8 victory at Greensboro College.
 
With the game tied at 3-3 with 13:58 left in the second quarter, Saint Vincent (5-0) erupted for six unanswered goals. Greensboro (2-4) would close the gap to 11-8 at the close of the third quarter, before SVC outscored the Pride 4-0 over the final 15 minutes to pull away for the decisive win.
 
Caleb Hawkins totaled a season-high six points to lead SVC, scoring four goals with two assists, while Jordan Billet scored four goals and Jacob Visalli three.
 
Matthew Cassidy recorded a three-point day, with two goals and one assist, while Max Schuler and Jonathan Nagy each scored goals and Andrew Coholich recorded two assists.
 
Defensively, Schuler was credited with two caused turnovers and collected four ground balls to share the team lead with RJ Kenna. Noah Sperling made seven saves in goal to earn the win, while Brady Beard won 13 of 24 faceoffs.
 
Saint Vincent jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter, with early goals from Hawkins, Nagy and Cassidy, before the Pride scored twice to tie the game at 3-all in the opening minute of the second quarter.
 
Hawkins gave SVC the lead for good with his second goal of the day, an unassisted tally with 7:27 left in the second quarter that put the Bearcats up 4-3. Four minutes later, Visalli netted his first of the day, assisted by Cassidy, before Hawkins completed his hat trick with 1:52 left in the quarter. Billet would then score two goals in a 12-second span in the quarter's final minute to push the SVC lead to 8-3 at the intermission.
 
The third quarter opened with Schuler scoring his first goal of the season, assisted by fellow d-man Ben Wohlin, to give SVC a 9-3 lead, but the Pride countered by scoring four of the game's next five goals to trim the gap to 10-7 with 3:55 left in the third. Hawkins temporarily halted the Greensboro momentum with his fourth with 1:15 remaining, before the Pride scored with less than seven seconds left in the frame to keep the margin at three, 11-8.
 
The Bearcats would then take control in the fourth quarter. Visalli tallied his third of the afternoon, assisted by Brody McMahon, to make it 12-8 with 13:45 left, before Billet scored two goals in 40 seconds – both assisted by Coholich – to increase the lead to 14-8 with 10:36 left. Cassidy would then put the icing on the victory with a man-down goal midway through the fourth to close out the game's scoring.
 
Cassidy's man-down goal also put an exclamation point on another strong performance by the SVC penalty kill, as the Bearcats allowed just two goals on 11 Greensboro man-up opportunities. Through the season's first five games, Saint Vincent has allowed just five goals on 35 man-down opportunities for a kill rate of 86.5 percent, tops in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.
 
The Bearcats will now return north and will be back in action on Sunday, March 12, hosting Marietta College at 1 p.m. at UPMC Field.