Catholic Lacrosse Hosts Southern Virginia in Home Opener
Image courtesy of Neil Kavanaugh
By Neil Kavanaugh
Catholic University Men’s Lacrosse Team held their home opener against Southern Virginia University in a decisive 20-14 loss this past Wednesday, January 13th. The Cardinals fought hard, but fell behind early in the game and could not recover. junior middle, Vince Catenacci, led the Cardinals in scoring with four goals.
The SVU Knights got two quick goals to make it 2-0 just over three minutes into the game. Catholic University responded with two goals of their own from Catenacci and junior middle, Brendan Leniw, the latter coming from a power play. The two teams would go back and forth until the Knights scored three unanswered goals, including one with 0:01 left, to end the first quarter with a 6-3 lead.
Catholic started the second quarter strong with a goal from freshman Brendan Dulin just eight seconds into the quarter. This was short-lived, as the Knights scored another three goals to bring the score to 9-4 just five minutes in. Catholic regained their footing thanks to a goal from junior Griffin Smith, but sputtered for the rest of the quarter, giving up five goals to make the score 14-5 going into the half.
The second half was much stronger for the Cards,
The fourth quarter was a very decisive 15 minutes, and Catholic University left everything they had on the field. The Birds scored first thanks to a laser shot from sophomore Ryan Gilfillan. The Knight and Cardinals exchanged offensive outings for the bulk of the quarter, but the last three minutes was where the Cardinals shined the brightest. The majority of that time was spent in the Knight’s zone, which resulted in three Catholic goals to finish up the game.
“It wasn’t the outcome we were wanted, but we had a lot of guys step up when we were down,” said senior captains Paddy Kamm, Luke Scaduto, and Dalton Leach. “We can view this game as a great opportunity to learn and move forward going into our next game”.
“We were hoping for a better outcome,” said Coach Brooks Singer. “We had some returners step up this year, as well as some freshmen which is great to see. We won the second half 9-6, now we need to work on playing a complete game. If we can do that, we have a lot to look forward to for the rest of the season. We will learn and build from this experience”.
The Catholic University Lacrosse Team plays again this Saturday at 12 against Randolph-Macon at Randolph-Macon College, who beat Methodist 11-4. The Cards defeated Randolph-Macon last year 15-10 at home.
