NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Apr. 9)- The Saint Vincent men's lacrosse team earned a fourth quarter comeback victory to secure a 12-10 road victory at Westminster, keeping their perfect Presidents Athletic Conference record alive.
The Bearcats (7-5, 4-0 PAC) trailed 5-1 and 7-3, before going on to outscore the Titans (6-6, 1-3 PAC) 9-3 the rest of the way to win their fourth consecutive PAC game. Saint Vincent outscored Westminster 4-1 in the fourth quarter.
Saint Vincent was led by
Jonathan Nagy who scored three goals, while dishing out one assist.
Justin Wodarek added two goals, both of which came in the fourth quarter and an assist as well.
Liam McCall also totaled three points, scoring one goal, while dishing out two assists.
Carter Haid (two goals) and
Jacob Crumling (one goal, one assist) both totaled two points in the win as well.
Reed Hunt,
Cam Herring, and
Mason Krabbe all scored goals as well, while
Owen Rogers picked up an assist in the win for Saint Vincent.
Brady Beard was an impressive 21-24 in faceoffs, scooping up a team-high seven ground balls. Krabbe and
Garrett Ritts added four ground ball pickups, while
Isaiah Francis picked up three ground balls of his own.
Ritts picked up the win in net, making four saves, while recording a team-best two caused turnovers for SVC.
It was all Titans early on as they quickly jumped out to a 5-1 lead about 19 minutes into the game. The teams traded the next couple of goals as the score was still 6-2 in favor of Westminster with 9:47 remaining in the second quarter. Saint Vincent scored three of the next four goals as Nagy scored two of those goals, one coming on the man-up, while Haid added a goal on an assist from Rogers to cut the Westminster lead to 7-5 early in the third quarter.
After a Westminster goal pushed the Titans lead to 8-5, the Saint Vincent comeback continued. The Bearcats scored the next three goals in a row, coming from Hunt, Herring, and Krabbe to tie the game at 8-8. Westminster regained lead at 9-8 with a late third quarter goal as the game headed to the fourth.
It was all Bearcats in the final quarter. Saint Vincent scored the first four goals of the fourth quarter to jump into the lead at 12-9. Nagy and Haid scored first, followed by back-to-back insurance goals from Wodarek. Westminster added a late goal, but the Bearcats completed the comeback victory.
Saint Vincent slightly out shot the Titans by a 40-39 margin. The Bearcats were a perfect 18-18 on clears, while Westminster was 26-30. Ground balls were 29-20 in favor of the Bearcats. SVC dominated in faceoffs, picking up 22 faceoff victories in comparison to three from the Titans. Saint Vincent was also a perfect 2-2 on extra-man opportunities, while Westminster was 0-2.
The Bearcats look to keep their perfect PAC record alive as they travel to Chatham on Saturday, April 12. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in Pittsburgh on Saturday evening.