BETHANY, W.Va. (April 18) – Eight different players scored at least one goal, while the Bearcat defense turned in its stingiest performance of the season, as the Saint Vincent men's lacrosse team extended its winning streak to four games with an impressive 14-1 road win at Presidents' Athletic Conference foe Bethany College.
Jacob Visalli led the Bearcats (11-2, 3-1 PAC) with six points, on five goals and one assist, while the SVC defense surrendered just 17 Bethany (5-7, 0-4 PAC) shots and forced 31 turnovers, with Noah Sperling saving five of six shots that he faced in goal.
Visalli was one of four SVC players to record multiple points, with Jonathan Nagy (2G, 1A) and Jordan Billet (2G, 1A) each totaling three points, and Caleb Hawkins scoring two goals.
Benjamin Wohlin, Matthew Cassidy and Carter Haid all scored once for the Bearcats, while Brody McMahon, RJ Kenna and Jacob Crumling each picking up assists.
It was also a team effort for SVC on defense, with nine different Bearcats credited with at least one caused turnover, with Billet and AJ Bricker each causing two. Nagy, Cassidy and Kenna shared the team lead with five ground balls apiece, with Hawkins, Bricker, McMahon, Andrew Coholich, Max Schuler and Justin Wodarek all corralling three ground balls.
Colin Cooper led the SVC faceoff effort, winning five of seven, while Brady Beard won 6 of 11.
Hawkins got the Bearcats on the board with his first goal of the day just over four minutes into the first quarter, before Billet made it 2-0 less than a minute later with his first goal of the afternoon. With just under five minutes left, Visalli scored off of an assist from McMahon, before Cassidy increased the lead to 4-0 with exactly two minutes left in the frame. The Bearcats would make it 5-0 on their final possession of the quarter, when Visalli netted his second of the afternoon with just 19 seconds left in the quarter. Saint Vincent controlled play for the duration of the opening stanza, out-shooting the Bison 10-2.
Saint Vincent continued to control play over the second quarter, but the Bearcats would manage just one goal, when Visalli beat the buzzer off of a feed from Nagy, to increase the SVC advantage to 6-0 at the break.
Over the opening 30 minutes, Saint Vincent outshot Bethany 24-5, with Cassidy stopping all four shots on goal that he faced.
The Bearcat offense continued to add on to the lead in the third quarter, with Nagy making it 7-0 off of an assist from Billet with 6:43 left, before Visalli scored his fifth of the afternoon, assisted by Jacob Crumling, with 4:15 left. Bethany would then halt the SVC run with its lone goal of the game with 48 seconds left in the quarter to cut the deficit to 9-1 entering the final frame.
Nagy, Visalli and Hawkins each scored in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 12-1, before Wohlin, the reigning PAC Defensive Player of the Week, tallied his first goal of the season with 5:02 left to play. Ninety seconds later, Carter Haid would pot his first goal of the year to close out the day's scoring.
The Bearcats will return to action on Sunday, April 23, when they celebrate Senior Day with a 1 p.m. matchup against PAC foe Thiel College at UPMC Field.
