Balanced effort leads Men's Lacrosse to key SAC win at LMU

Harrogate, T.N.. – The Catawba College Men's Lacrosse team rode a balanced offensive effort that featured goals from 10 different scorers to earn a 12-9 road victory over the Lincoln Memorial Railsplitters, improving to 6-4 and 3-2 in SAC action with the win at the LMU Lacrosse Complex while the Railsplitters fell to 3-7 overall 

TEAM STATS 

- Catawba outshot Lincoln Memorial 41-36, though both teams put 25 attempts on goal  

- Lincoln Memorial won 13-of-22 draws 

- The Railsplitters also recovered more ground balls, 15-10, but also turned the ball over 13 times. Catawba would lose possession just eight times 

- In goal, Catawba's James Crightonproduced a game-high 16 saves on the way to earning the win, moving to 6-4 on the season. For Lincoln Memorial, Jayden Herman stopped 13 shots but would fall to 1-6 with the loss  

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS 

 - Frank Cetrone and Jordan Dash each scored twice to lead Catawba, with eight other players finding the back of the net once as well 

- Garrett Simi's six shots were a team-high, with Cetrone, Gabriel Barker, and Tanner Stout each taking five 

- Eli Horton recovered two ground balls, with eight players each tallying one 

- Javondre Paige caused a pair of turnovers, with Horton and Crighton causing one apiece  

HOW IT HAPPENED 

FIRST QUARTER 

- The first 15:00 featured a pair of two-goal outbursts, near the beginning and end of the opening frame. Catawba would strike first, with Dash beginning the scoring at 12:04 and Hunter Clarkedoubling the lead :58 seconds later  

- Nearly nine minutes would pass before the next goal, with Rhodes Conroy putting Lincoln Memorial on the board with 2:07 until the break 

- Conroy's goal would be swiftly answered by Catawba through Cetrone, who found the back of the net just :22 seconds later to make it 3-1 at the first intermission  

SECOND QUARTER 

- Conroy's second tally of the day at 12:36 would again pull the Railsplitters to within one, only for Tyler Wedick and Bakari Neely to strike for Catawba at 11:57 and 10:19 to make it 5-2 

- Brock Saunders would pull a goal back for Lincoln Memorial just over a minute later, though Catawba had an answer with Stout, who restored the three-goal lead just :25 seconds later 

- A similar sequence would play out as the quarter entered its final six minutes, as Cole Morris pulled the home side within two at 5:42. Again, Catawba had a quick answer, this time via a Payton Leonard goal :51 seconds later  

- Conroy capped off his hat-trick with 1:52 before the half, but Catawba would enter the break holding a 7-5 lead  

THIRD QUARTER 

- Catawba put in an impressive all-around showing in the third quarter, with the locking Lincoln Memorial down defensively while being able to tack on a pair of goals and extend the lead 

- While Catawba held the Railsplitters scoreless, Cetrone and Jack Butlerwould strike quickly to open the second half. A lightning-fast sequence saw Cetrone tally his second of the game at 12:38 and Butler add his first :35 seconds afterwards, with Catawba taking a 9-5 lead 

FOURTH QUARTER 

- Peyton Turner wasted no time extending Catawba's lead to five goals, striking just :27 seconds into the final quarter  

- Simi scored Catawba's fourth straight goal with 11:47 on the clock, with Catawba now up 11-5 

- Morris scored Lincoln Memorial's first goal of the half with 9:53 to go in the game, though once again it took less than a minute for a Catawba response. This time, Dash netted his second goal on an extra-man opportunity at 8:56 

- Lincoln Memorial would hold Catawba scoreless over the final 8:55 as Conroy, Morris, and Jordan Castro all found the back of the net, but Catawba's six-goal lead would prove too much to overcome as the visiting side closed out a 12-9 victory  

NOTES 

- Cetrone's two goals were his fifth multi-goal effort on the season, as he becomes the first Catawba player to hit 20 goals this season 

- Turner's point streak continued, as he's now recorded at least a goal or assist in all 10 games to begin the year 

- Leonard has now scored in four of his last six games, after not scoring in the first four games of the season  

Simi and Dash continued their consistent scoring streaks, now having found the back of the net in nine of 10 games. Simi has now scored in seven straight, while Dash notched his fourth multi-goal effort of the season 

- Stout has now scored five times over the last six games, after beginning the season with one goal in the opening four matchups 

- This was the second time this season that Crighton had racked up 16 saves 

UP NEXT 

- Catawba Men's Lacrosse is back in action on Wednesday, March 27th, staying on the road as they travel to Wingate to take on the Bulldogs in in a conference matchup set for 7 p.m.