Men’s Lacrosse celebrates seniors in valiant stand against #2 Limestone

SALISBURY, N.C. – The Catawba College men's lacrosse team closed out its home season with an impressive showing against second-ranked Limestone on Saturday, but the Saints' early lead proved too mighty to overcome in a 13-8 defeat.

TEAM STATS

- A late barrage of shots lifted Catawba (8-5, 4-5 SAC) over Limestone (13-1, 8-0 SAC) in the shots department 40-39

- The turnover battle was just as tight, but Limestone emerged with a 20-19 advantage in the category

- The blue and white edged the visitors in ground balls by a 44-39 margin

- Limestone was one failed clear shy of perfection in 26 attempts while Catawba went 23-for-28 in transition

- Catawba posted a 13-for-25 mark on faceoffs, powered by 11 wins for Cael Petroff, while the Saints saw Kyler Donahue prevail 10 times

- Ben LoPiccolo made 11 stops in the crease for Catawba; Cory Lyons also snared 11 saves in his second win of the year

INDIVIDUAL STATS

- Tanner Stout had an active day, firing in two goals with one assist and three ground balls to lead the Catawba Indian offense

- Peyton Turner also compiled three points on one score and two helpers

- Brian Garcia enjoyed a fruitful Senior Day in the midfield with three ground balls and a caused turnover

- Owen Conway starred on defense, recording five ground balls and a whopping five caused turnovers – the most takeaways in a South Atlantic Conference this season

- Petroff and LoPiccolo recorded six and four ground balls, respectively

HOW IT HAPPENED

First Quarter

- The Saints scored twice in the opening 1:16 with darts coming from Grant Rodgers and Zachary Terry

- Terry found the twine for a second time with help from Cayden Onagi before the latter delivered a strike of his own ahead of the nine-minute mark

- Limestone recovered from a 30-second interference penalty for another two-goal burst shortly after the quarter's midway point

- Catawba finally stopped the run when Peter Geraffo corralled a rebound and slammed it into the net, making it 6-1 through the opening frame

Second Quarter

- Onagi put another tally on the visitors' side of the scoreboard 35 seconds in, but Jack Mercer offered a quick rebuttal to move the gap back to five

- Turnovers began to plague both offenses as the Saint defense fended off the Catawba Indians and allowed Rodgers to nab his second goal and David Bradley to score with a man advantage

- In back-to-back drives set up by LoPiccolo snags, Catawba added strikes following calculated offensive possessions from Hunter Clarke and Stout to bring the deficit to 9-4

- LoPiccolo kept stuffing the Saints with three more saves in the last four minutes, wrapping up the half with a five-goal difference

Third Quarter

- After successfully killing a penalty that stretched into the second half, Catawba earned an extra-man chance of their own and pounced as Turner connected with Devin Trzeciak

- Onagi canceled out the goal 1:40 later, preceding a furious bombardment from Limestone toward the Catawba Indian net

- Catawba weathered the storm, blocking one with two LoPiccolo saves, then forced a turnover that developed into a goal from Michael Lindsey

- Onagi strung together three consecutive scores in as many possessions, but Stout found Turner to drill into the gap again, entering the fourth stanza with a 13-7 divide

Fourth Quarter

- After three off-target shots, Eric Fruge put a shot on net to snap a 5:40 drought of shots on goal in a lethargic start to the period

- Each side committed a shot clock violation, an accurate reflection of the lengthy possessions on both ends

- A 30-second penalty against Limestone brought forth a post-hitting delivery from Trzeciak that inspired a Saint timeout; nonetheless, Catawba struck on a Turner-to-Stout bullseye

- Tigh Metheney challenged the visitors with an on-goal missile a minute later, but Lyons turned it away as Limestone ran out the clock to remain undefeated in conference play

UP NEXT

Catawba deviates from SAC action for its penultimate regular-season contest, traveling to Virginia State on Friday, Apr. 18 for a 5 p.m. meeting with the Trojans.