STEUBENVILLE, Ohio (March 27) – The Saint Vincent College men's lacrosse team bounced back from a sluggish start to defeat Franciscan University 13-8 in each team's Presidents' Athletic Conference opener.
Saint Vincent (3-6, 1-0 PAC) extended its winning streak to three games with the victory, while snapping a five-game winning streak for Franciscan (7-3, 0-1 PAC).
Trailing 5-2 at the close of the first quarter, the Bearcats grabbed the lead for good after outscoring the Barons 6-1 in the second quarter. SVC kept the momentum after the break, scoring five of the game's seven second half goals to pull away for the win.
Seven different players scored at least one goal and recorded at least two points, led by
Jordan Billet, who registered a game-high six points, on four goals and two assists.
Caleb Hawkins finished with a four-point night, on three goals and one assist, while
Tyler Harpst scored one goal and assisted on two others to record three points.
Justin Wodarek scored two goals, while
Carter Haid,
Liam McCall, and
Jacob Crumling each scored a goal and an assist.
Garrett Ritts earned the win in goal by making nine saves, while the Bearcats outshot the Barons 56-35 on the night.
RJ Kenna led Saint Vincent with seven ground balls, while Haid scooped up six and Billet and
Brady Beard five apiece.
Robbie Abraham and
Wade Buckner were each credited with two caused turnovers.
Hawkins scored the game's first goal just two minutes into the first quarter, before the Barons regrouped to score four unanswered and take a 4-1 lead with 7:14 left in the quarter. The teams then traded goals over the final five minutes of the quarter, with Harpst scoring for the Bearcats, as the Barons took a 5-2 lead at the close of the frame.
Facing the three-goal deficit, the Bearcats roared to life to open the second quarter. Forty seconds into the frame, Crumling scored to cut the deficit to 5-3, before Wodarek, Hawkins and Billet each added goals within a two-minute span to give SVC its first lead, 6-5, with 12:08 left in the half. With 4:22 left, Billet scored his second goal of the quarter, and after the Barons briefly cut it to 7-6, Hawkins closed out the half's scoring, off of a Billet assist, to send SVC into the intermission with an 8-6 lead.
Franciscan would again make it a one-goal game, 7-6, on a goal three minutes into the third quarter, but Wodarek and Haid each scored within a two-minute span to increase the SVC margin to 10-7 at the close of the third quarter.
The Barons scored the fourth quarter's first goal to close to within 10-8 with 12:30 left to play, but would get no closer. Following the Franciscan goal, the Bearcat defense would not yield a shot for nearly six minutes of play and forced four turnovers, while Billet scored two more goals to up the lead to 12-8 with just over six minutes remaining. Ritts made a pair of stops with inside three minutes left, before McCall put the exclamation point on the win with a goal with 43 seconds remaining.
Along with their sizeable advantage in shots, the Bearcats also forced 23 Franciscan turnovers, held a 45-40 margin in ground balls, and won 15 of 25 faceoffs. SVC also held the Barons to an 0-for-5 mark in extra-man opportunities.
Joseph James led Franciscan with four points, on three goals and one assist, while Nathaniel Carter scored twice. Franciscan goalie Richard Vale registered 19 saves.
The Bearcats will now have a weeklong layoff over the Easter holiday, before returning to action at 6 p.m. on Wednesday, April 3, when they travel north to face Grove City College in a rematch of each of the past two PAC title bouts.
