PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Apr. 28)- The Saint Vincent men's lacrosse team defeated Chatham 10-8 in the Bearcats 2023 regular season finale.
 
After Saint Vincent (14-2, 6-1 PAC) and Chatham (6-10, 3-4 PAC) were tied 5-5 at the half, the Bearcats used a four goal third quarter and one goal fourth to outscore the Cougars 10-8 in the second half in route to their seventh straight win to conclude the regular season.
 
Jacob Visalli led the way for Saint Vincent, recording five points on four goals, including the 100^th goal of his Bearcat career, while also dishing out one assist. Jordan Billet totaled four points, scoring one goal and dishing out three assists.
 
Caleb Hawkins scored two goals and Matthew Cassidy tallied two points, scoring one goal, while adding one helper as well. Jonathan Nagy and Andrew Coholich each scored goals in the win as well for SVC.
 
Brody McMahon recorded a game-high 11 ground balls and five caused turnovers, while also recording an assist on a goal too. Justin Wodarek scooped up four ground balls and dished out one helper in the win for Saint Vincent as well.
 
Brady Beard won 12 faceoffs, while also scooping up five ground balls. Noah Sperling picked up the win in net for Saint Vincent, making 11 saves, playing all 60-minutes in net.
 
The Bearcats got off to a strong start, scoring two goals in the first seven minutes of play. Hawkins opened the scoring up for SVC and Coholich added another goal about one minute and a half later to give SVC an early 2-0 lead.
 
Chatham scored to cut the lead in half at 2-1 but the Bearcats answered with two goals scored by Visalli within 26 seconds of each other. Visalli's first goal was assisted by Wodarek and his second coming on an assist from Billet as Saint Vincent led 4-1 at the end of the first quarter.
 
Chatham scored first in the second quarter to once again cut the lead in half at 4-2. Visalli moved the lead right back to three, scoring his third goal of the game on an assist from Billet as SVC led 5-2.
 
The Cougars stormed back to tie the game up scoring three goals in the final five minutes of the half as the score was 5-5 heading into the halftime break.
 
Out of the half, it was all Saint Vincent. The Bearcats scored the first four goals of the quarter to take the lead right back at 9-5. Billet scored on an assist from McMahon, Cassidy then scored on an assist from Visalli. After Cassidy's goal, Visalli scored his fourth of the game on an assist from Billet, and Hawkins scored with a man-up on an assist from Cassidy.
 
Over the remaining quarter and change the Cougars outscored the Bearcats 3-1 but it wasn't enough as Saint Vincent held on for the 10-8 win. The final SVC goal came from Nagy at the 11:14 mark of the fourth quarter.
 
The two-seeded Bearcats will now prepare for their PAC semifinal matchup at home against third ranked Westminster on Wednesday, May 3. The match is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at UPMC Field. The Bearcats will take on the Titans for the second year in a row in the semifinals. Last year, SVC advanced to the PAC championship with 10-7 win against Westminster.