Men's Lacrosse rolls to 30th Anniversary/Senior Day win over VSU

Salisbury, N.C. – The Catawba College Men's Lacrosse team (7-7) rolled to an impressive Senior Day victory on Saturday over the Virginia State Trojans (1-9), with seniors Kyle Chessock, Bakari Neely, and Caleb Richardson combining to score four of Catawba's goals in a 21-6 romp at Shuford Stadium 

TEAM STATS 

- Catawba dominated offensively, tallying 63 shots and putting 43 on target while Virginia State mustered 25 attempts with 17 on target 

- 20/30 faceoffs went Catawba's way 

- The Trojans ceded possession 25 times, while Catawba turned the ball over just 15 times  

- Ground balls also favored Catawba, 43-27 

- In goal, all four Catawba keepers saw action. James Crighton got the start, earning the win and improving to 7-7 on the season as he made 3 stops in 18:54 of game time. Brady Gauntner (18:33, 2 saves), Tyler Ahlvers (11:57, 3 saves), and Hunter Mesty(10:36, three saves) backstopped the win the rest of the way. 

- Jace Wiggins took the loss for Virginia State, stopping 22 shots but allowing 21 goals to fall to 1-9 on the year 

INDIVIDUAL LEADERS 

 - Jordan Dash's four goals led all scorers, while Catawba featured six players who tallied a pair of goals on the day in a balanced effort  

- Peyton Turnerracked up four of Catawba's nine assists, finishing as the only player with more than one on either side 

- Frank Cetrone and Hunter Clarke tied for the game-high with seven shots, both putting five on goal. Tyler Wedick attempted six, with four efforts on target 

- Dylan Cienfuegosled all players with eight ground balls, as Chessock recovered four and two seniors, Carter Toran and Adam Gilligan, retrieved three. Ben Walczakalso notched a trio of ground balls 

- Both Xan Varner and senior Peyton Leonard led Catawba with two caused turnovers apiece  

HOW IT HAPPENED 

FIRST QUARTER 

- Catawba opened the game in dominant fashion, heading into halftime with a 13-0 lead as they shut the Trojans out for the first 30 minutes. Clarke opened the scoring 1:52 minutes into the first quarter, off of an assist from Cetrone 

- Dash netted his first goal at 10:21, followed only :13 seconds later by a strike from Jackson Braswell. Turner notched assists on both goals as Catawba took a 3-0 lead 

- Clarke's second tally came at the 9:06 mark, and Cetrone struck for the first time at 7:54 off an assist from Neely for a 5-0 lead 

- Dash added his second goal courtesy of Turner's third assist with 6:42 on the board 

- Tigh Methenyput Catawba up 7-0 nothing with 3:27 before the firs the first intermission, and Chessock converted another feed from Turner into a goal just :10 seconds until the first horn 

SECOND QUARTER 

- Metheny's second tally opened the scoring in the second frame, just :59 seconds in 

- Neely became the second Catawba senior to find the back of the net at the 11:06 mark, as Catawba went up 10-0 

- Jack Hart, Gabriel Barker, and Dash all tacked goals onto the lead over a near-two-minute stretch between 6:59 and 4:54 

THIRD QUARTER 

- Virginia State scored the opening two goals of the second half via Miles Jackson and Kalani Laughlin, breaking their scoring drought and opening the second half  

- Hart tallied Catawba's first goal of the half at the 6:33 mark, a minute after Laughlin had scored 

- Jackson scored his second with 4:22 on the board, answered by Dash's third of the afternoon at 3:05 and a last-gasp goal from Neely with the last play of the quarter to make it 16-3 

FOURTH QUARTER 

- Cetrone and Wedick opened the final quarter with goals at 10:36 and 8:59, respectively 

- Virginia State added three more goals in a stretch of just over six minutes, but Catawba's lead would be insurmountable. Toran earned an assist on a goal from Tanner Stout at 4:09, before Caleb Richardson became the third Catawba senior to net a goal with 1:21 left 

- Wedick's second goal :32 seconds before the final horn would cap off the win   

NOTES 

- Metheny's two goal outing was his second of the season, with the other coming against Tusculum on Feb. 24th  

- For Neely, this was his third two-goal outing of the season, while it was the fourth for Clarke and first for Wedick on the season 

- Hart's brace was the first of his collegiate career  

- Dash's four-goal outing was the first of his career, as was his tally of five points. With at least a point in every game, Dash is a now a point away from becoming the third Catawba player to hit 30 this season 

- Turner's four assists, the second time this season he's hit that mark, made him the first Catawba player to 40 points this season 

- Cetrone's two goals put him at six straight games with at least a pair, and his three points on the day have him one away from 40  

UP NEXT 

- The Catawba College Men's Lacrosse team is back in action on Wednesday, April 17th, welcoming the 2nd-ranked Lenoir-Rhyne Bears to Salisbury for the regular-season finale at Shuford Stadium. Game time is set for 4:00 p.m.