Career days from Cetrone and Crighton lead Men's Lacrosse to season-opening win at NGU

Tigerville, S.C. – The Catawba College men's lacrosse team opened the year strong, taking down the North Greenville Crusaders on the road in the season opener by a score of 16-11 behind Frank Cetrone's five-goal performance and a career-high 23 saves from James Crighton

TEAM STATS

- North Greenville outshot Catawba 53-35, putting 34 on target to Catawba's 24

- Each team got assists on 10 of their goals, respectively

- Defensively, Catawba caused 10 turnovers to North Greenville's four, and the Crusaders turned it over 17 times to Catawba's 11. North Greenville recovered more ground balls, 22 to 18

- North Greenville also won the battle in the faceoff circle, winning 23 of 30

- The key difference was in goal, where Crighton made 23 saves for Catawba to eight from North Greenville's Gabe Nelson

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS

 - Cetrone's five goals were a new career high, while his six total points was the second best effort of his young career after a seven-point outing last season against Mars Hill. Hunter Clarke's hat-trick was the first three-goal effort of his career, as he finished with four points. Carson Adkins also added a pair of goals in his Catawba debut

 - Garrett Simi recorded a career-high three assists, while Tampa transfer Peyton Turner added another two assists on his debut

 - Defensively, Xan Varner and Brian Garcia each tallied four ground balls, while Payton Leonard corralled three. Javondre Paige caused a team-high two turnovers

 - Crighton's 23 saves eclipsed his previous career-high of 21, which came against Lenoir-Rhyne in 2021

HOW IT HAPPENED

FIRST QUARTER

- Jordan Dash wasted no time putting Catawba on the board first, with Simi providing the assist at the 12:53 mark  

- Turner served up the first of his two assists at 8:35, linking up with fellow debutant Adkins for 2-0 before Cole Zarola tallied North Greenville's first goal under a minute later

- Zarola's goal sparked a 4-1 North Greenville run to close the first quarter, including two from Christian Cechini while Clarke would notch Catawba's third

SECOND QUARTER

- Catawba would dominate the second quarter, responding impressively to the North Greenville run with a 4-0 stretch of their own to take the game into halftime

- Catawba got goals from four different sources, as Cetrone found the net for the first time at 12:54 and then Kyle Chessock wasted no time in putting Catawba back on top at 11:24, making it 5-4

- Simi was the provider again at the 9:24 mark, this time assisting Clarke's second tally. Kier McKnight made it another Catawba debutant on the scoresheet with 4:42 to go in the half, as Catawba led 7-4

THIRD QUARTER

- While North Greenville threatened to make a comeback early through a pair of goals, Catawba's offensive leaders on the day would answer to keep the visiting side ahead

- Simi and Clarke linked up again, this time with Simi finding the back of the net. Cetrone netted his second shortly after, before assisting Clarke for his third tally of the afternoon at the 3:59 mark to make it 10-6 Catawba

- Varner notched his first career assist with 1:28 to go, picking out Adkins to put Catawba five goals up going into the final quarter

FOURTH QUARTER

- It was all Cetrone in the fourth quarter as he closed the game out, with a pair of dagger goals just seven seconds apart at 9:47 and 9:40 to make it 13-7 Catawba. His fifth goal came with 5:24 to go

- Two more goals, one from Tyler Wedick and another coming from debutant Tanner Stout, were more than enough to close the game as Catawba led by at least three goals the entire second half

UP NEXT

- Catawba hits the road again next weekend, continuing non-conference play against the Mount Olive Trojans on Saturday, Feb. 10. Game time is set for 1 p.m.