GEORGETOWN, Texas – Southwestern men's lacrosse held off Huntingdon's frenzied finish to win their sixth game of the season, 9-8 over the Hawks.
The Pirates opened with some sloppy play as winds and rain whipped across field, but Carter Cowan got SU back on track, wrapping around from behind goal and scoring low on Huntingdon at the halfway mark of the first quarter.
Matthew Montagne added another with 4:47 to play in the first to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead at the end of one quarter.
Huntingdon finally got on the board five minutes into the second, but Matt Zagurski scored the answer less than one minute later to keep SU's two goal lead intact, 3-1. Huntingdon scored back to back goals in less than 40 seconds to even the game once again, 3-3, but Tyler Downing blistered a shot at goal that found a hole just the size of the ball on the near post to put Southwestern up 4-3 heading into halftime.
Following the break, SU scored two goals in the opening two and half minutes to gain some breathing room, 6-3, but Huntingdon closed the frame on a 3-0 run with three goals from Jakob Works to pull the Hawks even 6-6 at the end of the third quarter.
Downing took the game over in the fourth quarter, scoring two goals in a minute and a half in the fourth and Montagne added other with 5:26 remaining to give Southwestern a 9-6 lead.
Huntingdon turned on the after burners to score with 2:39 and 1:51 left on the clock. Huntingdon won the ensuing faceoff, but Southwestern's defense came up huge as they blocked Messenger's shot and successfully cleared the ball into their offensive box.
A costly turnover by the Pirates gave Huntingdon the ball and a shot at the tie with just over a minute to play. The Hawks took a timeout to plan their attack with 37 seconds left on the clock. SU fended off three shots in the final thirty seconds and collected the ground ball after HC's Kasmarik failed to catch the ball as he dove towards goal as time expired.
The team stats show just how evenly matched these two teams were. SU led 33-32 in ground balls while Huntingdon had a 39-38 shot advantage. Each team recorded 12 saves on the evening with Charlie Fisher earning his third win of the season in goal.
Downing led the Pirates with three goals on the evening while Works posted five goals to lead the Hawks.
Southwestern improves to 6-4 on the year and is one win shy of tying the program high of seven set in 2011 and 2013. Huntingdon falls to 7-5 overall. The Pirates open a huge road trip as they head to Shreveport on Friday to face Centenary College at 5 p.m.
