LATROBE, Pa. (May 3)- The Saint Vincent men's lacrosse team is headed back to the PAC Championship game for the second year in a row after defeating Westminster 9-7 in the PAC semifinals.
 
The Bearcats led 4-1 at the half and despite being outscored 6-5 in the second half, they used a four-goal fourth quarter to secure the win against the Titans in the semifinals for the second season in a row.
 
It was a stellar performance in net for the Bearcats as Noah Sperling recorded the win making a career-high 17 saves, while allowing just seven goals. Brody McMahon was dominant on defense as well for the Bearcats recording a team-high two caused turnovers, while also scooping up three ground balls.
 
Offensively, Caleb Hawkins was big for the Bearcats scoring four goals, including three critical goals in the fourth quarter. Jordan Billet assisted on three goals against the Titans and Andrew Coholich found the back of the net twice as well.
 
Justin Wodarek, Jacob Visalli, and Jonathan Nagy all scored goals in the win for the Bearcats too. Brady Beard totaled a team-high six ground balls, while also going 9-18 in faceoffs.
 
After a scoreless first six minutes for both teams Saint Vincent got the scoring started. Wodarek scored the game's first goal at the 9:08 mark of the first quarter to give SVC a 1-0 lead. Coholich followed that up less than two minutes later, also finding the back of the net to increase the lead to 2-0 heading into the second quarter.
 
Westminster's Gavin Jones got the Titans on the board early in the second quarter to cut the SVC lead in half at 2-1 but Saint Vincent responded.
 
The Bearcats scored two goals two minutes apart to take a three-goal lead. Hawkins scored first and Visalli followed with a goal on an assist from Billet as SVC led 4-1 and the defense held strong over the final three-minutes as the three-goal lead held going into the half.
 
After the half, the Bearcats once again scored first as Nagy scored, giving the Bearcats a four-goal lead, their largest of the game at 5-1 but Westminster wouldn't go away.
 
The Titans scored three goals over the next nine plus minutes of game-time to cut the Saint Vincent lead to just one at 5-4 early in the fourth quarter. Just as they did all game, the Bearcats had another response in them.
 
Saint Vincent scored the next two goals as Coholich scored on an assist from Billet and Hawkins scored his first of three goals in the quarter to give SVC a comfortable 7-4 lead with eight minutes and change remaining.
 
Jones then scored again for the Titans to cut the lead to 7-5 but two goals in the closest the Titans would get the rest of the way. Hawkins scored two more goals, with one coming on an assist from Billet to seal the Bearcats trip to the PAC Championship.
 
The Bearcats recorded 34 shots and scooped up 21 ground balls in the win. They also forced 16 Westminster turnovers and were a strong 24-28 on clear attempts over the course of the win. Both teams won nine faceoffs in the contest as well.
 
The Bearcats find themselves in familiar territory heading back to the PAC Championship that will be held this Saturday, May 6. Saint Vincent awaits the winner of top-seeded Grove City and four-seeded Allegheny. If Grove City defeats the Gators, SVC will have a trip to Grove City for a rematch of the 2022 PAC Championship. If Allegheny wins, SVC will host the championship in Latrobe on Saturday.