MARIETTA, Ohio (Mar. 20)- The Saint Vincent men's lacrosse team defeated Marietta, 11-4 to earn the Bearcats their first win of the 2024 season.
 
Saint Vincent (1-6) outscored Marietta (3-4) 6-1 in the opening half, before outscoring the Pioneers by a 5-3 margin in the second half in route to the victory. The Bearcats outshot Marietta by a 47-14 margin, including a 28-6 margin in shots on goal.
 
Liam McCall and Jordan Billet led the way for the Bearcats with four points each. McCall scored three goals and dished out one assist, while Billet scored two goals and dished out two helpers.
 
Carter Haid scored two goals and assisted on one as well. Tyler Harpst also had three points with one goal and two assists in the win for Saint Vincent.
 
Max Radcliffe, Caleb Hawkins, and Justin Wodarek all scored to help push SVC to their first victory of the season. RJ Kenna led Saint Vincent with five ground balls and Robbie Abraham and Shawn Ryan both caused two turnovers.
 
Garrett Ritts earned the win in goal for the Bearcats, making two saves.
 
Marietta took the first advantage, scoring the first goal just 45 seconds into the game, quickly opening up to a 1-0 lead, but it was all Saint Vincent from that point on.
 
McCall got the Bearcats on the board exactly one minute later on an assist from Harpst to tie the game at 1-1. Billet scored the next two goals, the first one unassisted and the second coming on a pass from McCall to give the Bearcats a 3-1 lead heading into the second quarter.
 
It was all Saint Vincent in the second quarter as well as the Bearcats outscored the Pioneers 3-0 in the quarter, not allowing Marietta to record a shot in the quarter.
 
Hawkins scored first with a man-up on an assist from Billet to increase the SVC lead to 4-1. After a scoring drought of ten-minutes, the Bearcats added two more in the final two minutes of the half as Radcliffe scored and then Wodarek scored with 21 seconds to go in the half as Saint Vincent held a 6-1 halftime lead.
 
The Bearcat defense was the story of the first half as the Bearcats held the Pioneers to just one total shot in the half, outshooting them 29-1.
 
Just as they did in the first half, Marietta scored the first goal of the second half to cut the lead to 6-2. SVC answered with the next two goals as McCall scored with a man up on an assist from Harpst and Haid followed with an unassisted goal as the Saint Vincent lead was 8-2.
 
The Pioneers added another goal to close out the third quarter, but SVC still led 8-3 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
It was all Bearcats in the fourth quarter as well. Saint Vincent outscored the Pioneers 3-1 in the quarter to close out the win. Harpst, McCall, and Haid were the SVC goal scorers in the final quarter.
 
Saint Vincent was a strong 19-22 on clear attempts in the contest. The Bearcats also recorded 33 ground balls in comparison to 26 by the Pioneers. Marietta won the faceoff category by a slight 11-9 margin.
 
The Bearcats were 2-4 on man-up opportunities in the win as well.
 
Saint Vincent will conclude their non-conference slate of games in their next game on Saturday, March 23, as they travel to take on Lebanon Valley. Opening face-off is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Annville on Saturday.