PREVIEW: #18 Men’s Lacrosse eyes historic opportunity in SAC battle at Mars Hill

MARS HILL, N.C. – The 18th-ranked Catawba College men's lacrosse team looks to remain undefeated and post its program-record seventh consecutive win to start the year in a Saturday matchup with South Atlantic Conference foe Mars Hill.

Last Weekend's Extermination

- Catawba pummeled first-year squad Emory & Henry last Saturday in a 22-1 home win for the blue and white, setting Catawba's fourth-largest margin of victory in program history

- Frank Cetrone cracked off seven shots on goal, scoring four times with an assist

- Devin Trzeciak, Tanner Stout and Michael Lindsey each recorded a hat trick in the triumph

- Dylan Cienfuegos starred on the dot with a 9-for-10 clip and collected a team-best eight ground balls

- Brady Gauntner earned the win in net to improve to 6-0, then passed the baton to Ben LoPiccolo and Tyler Ahlvers who recorded their second and first appearances of the season, respectively

Leading the Way

- Cetrone paces Catawba with 16 goals while slotting sixth in the league on a per-game basis at 2.67 strikes

- In total points, Cetrone's 23 tallies is the team high followed by 18 from Peyton Turner (10 goals, eight assists) and 15 from Tanner Stout (11 goals, four assists)

- Freshman Owen Conway leads the Catawba Indian defense in caused turnovers with eight takeaways, while Jack Butler has 20 ground ball pickups to top all Catawba field players

- Rookie faceoff specialist Cael Petroff ranks fourth in the league with a .585 success rate on the dot as he ranks fifth among SAC players for ground balls per game (5.00)

- Gauntner has started all six games in the crease while logging the nation's 10th-best goals against average of 7.60 with a save percentage of .542

Unbeaten Through Six

- Catawba is one win away from setting the best start in program history

- Only eight Division II teams are still unblemished with Catawba behind only Tampa (8-0) for the longest undefeated streak

- The squad's current mark of 6-0 was recorded just once in the previous 31 seasons, occurring in 2012 during the second of three seasons featuring a Deep South Conference Tournament title

- A victory on Saturday not only logs a record-breaking start but also matches the 2024 win total in less than half the contests

All-Time Series

- The Catawba Indians have been excellent against Mars Hill in the programs' 33-game history, boasting a 21-12 record

- Catawba has won nine consecutive games against the Lions as MHU seeks its first victory since Mar. 1, 2015

- In the High Country, Mars Hill is slightly better but still trails 10-7; Catawba has scored 16 goals in each of its last two trips to Meares Stadium

Scouting the Lions

- MHU enters the contest with a 5-3 record and a 1-1 ledger in SAC play

- After dropping their first two games, the Lions are rolling with wins in five of their last six; the lone loss in that run was a 23-7 setback to No. 6 Wingate last Saturday

- Sam Arendt paces the Lions in both goals (21) and assists (9), racking up 30 points through eight games

- Shane Hecht has been MHU's everyday goalie, recording a 13.21 goals-against average and a .511 save percentage

Follow Along

The matchup will be streamed live on FloCollege ($) with real-time stats available on marshilllions.com.