Eight straight goals leads Men's Lacrosse to road win over Belmont Abbey

Belmont, N.C. – The Catawba College men's lacrosse team bounced back with a 9-7 road win over the Belmont Abbey Crusaders on Saturday afternoon, improving to 2-1 on the season as they were powered by Gabriel Barker's first career hat-trick and a career-high five points from Peyton Turner. 

TEAM STATS 

- Catawba outshot Belmont Abbey 42-28, putting 22 efforts on goal while the Crusaders put 15 shots on target 

- Belmont Abbey blanked Catawba in the faceoff circle, as the Crusaders won all 20 faceoffs 

- Catawba was more than up to the task defensively, however, forcing 13 more turnovers for a 28-15 advantage over the Crusaders while also recovering more ground balls, 32-29 

- In goal, Catawba's James Crightonimproved to 2-0 on the season with eight saves in 60:00 of action. For Belmont Abbey, Angus Snow's 13 saves in 60:00 minutes between the sticks wasn't enough to prevent him from dropping to 1-2 

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS 

 - Barker's three goals led all players on the afternoon, while Frank Cetrone continued on his offensive tear to begin the season with another pair of his own. Bakari Neely, Hunter Clarke, Turner, and Jordan Dash all put themselves on the scoresheet as well 

 - Turner, fresh off of a four-goal performance against Mount Olive, followed that showing up by providing a game and career-high four assists. Neely and Clarke each had a pair as well 

 - Turner's five points led all players, and Neely and Clarke were the only other players to notch at least three  

 - Crighton's 11 ground balls were the second most in the game, while Turner and Kyle Chessockeach recovered four of their own. Javondre Paige led Catawba with three caused turnovers, followed by two from Payton Leonard 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

FIRST QUARTER 

- It took almost 10 minutes for either team to break through in a hard-fought, defensive first quarter as Catawba would draw first blood through Cetrone with 5:15 to go 

- Belmont Abbey would respond around two minutes later through Tre Childers, as two sides ended the first 15:00 knotted up 1t 1-1 

SECOND QUARTER 

- Childers and the Crusaders carried momentum in the second quarter, as he scored again after just 1:08 had gone by since the restart. Harry Maloney then made the most of a Catawba penalty at the 10:00 minute mark, making it 3-1 to Belmont Abbey with 9:37 to go 

- But a penalty on the Crusaders allowed Turner to convert a man-up opportunity for Catawba as well just over a minute later, and it would prove to be a huge momentum swing as Dash evened the game at 3-3 with the second Catawba goal in :53 seconds with 7:29 to go in the half 

- It would prove to be all-Catawba following Turner's goal with 8:22 to go, with Dash's goal just the second in what would become a 5-0 run to end the half. Neely converted another man-up opportunity with 4:08 to go to give Catawba the lead once again, before Cetrone and Clarke both struck in the final two minutes to put Catawba up 6-3 going into the half. All three of those goals were assisted by Turner 

THIRD QUARTER 

- That would be where Barker took over, notching all three of his goals between the 11:27 and 2:53 for a 9:34 minute hat-trick. His three tallies were the only ones of the quarter, putting Catawba up by a decisive score of 9-7  

- Turner secured his fourth straight assist on Barker's first goal at the 11:27 mark, while Neely and Clarke were in on the other two 

FOURTH QUARTER 

- Belmont Abbey threatened in the early stages, with Jack Clough and Davis McCulley each scoring in the first 5:15 of the final quarter to cut the lead to four, 9-5 

- Xavier Miller put more pressure on Catawba with a pair of goals in just under three minutes, his second tally making it a two-goal game with 3:15 left 

- But Catawba held firm, preventing the Crusaders from putting any more attempts on goal and securing the road win by a final score of 9-7  

UP NEXT 

- Catawba men's lacrosse opens up SAC play with their home opener next week, hosting Tusculum at 1 p.m. at Shuford Stadium