Pirates Close Out Trine in Bounce Back Win

Pirates Close Out Trine in Bounce Back Win

GEORGETOWN - The Southwestern University men's lacrosse team held off a late Trine rally to bounce back and earn a 13-11 win over the Thunder on Friday evening at Varsity Field.

The Pirates were the aggressor, out shooting the Thunder 49-32 and forcing 23 turnovers while limiting their giveaways to 15. Southwestern picked up 43 ground balls and won 17 of 27 face offs. The Pirates also held Trine to 11 of 20 in clear attempts.

Southwestern jumped all over the thunder in the first quarter as they raced out to a 5-1 lead. Junior Jared Welsh scored back-to-back goals to make it a 2-0 lead while junior Logan Spalding followed with a goal of his own to make it 3-0. After a Trine goal, junior Kai Knight-Turcan and senior Matt Amerie closed the quarter with goals for a 5-1 advantage.

Trine scored two of the next three goals to open the second quarter to make it 6-3. Spalding would score during the stretch while Welsh and sophomore Zach Taylor responded with goals in the final 1:09 to give the Pirates an 8-3 lead at the break.

In the second half, Knight-Turcan, Amerie, and junior Everett Barger opened the third quarter with three consecutive goals as the Pirates opened up an 11-3 lead. Freshman Zac Asbury added a goal in the quarter and the Pirates would take a 12-6 lead into the final period.

Trine opened with consecutive goals, but Amerie got, what would be, a key goal to make it 13-8. Trine would threaten, closing the game with three goals, but it would not be enough as the Southwestern defense held firm to close out the win.

Amerie and Welsh each scored three while Amerie added an assist. Asbury had a goal and three assists while Spalding scored a pair. Barger and Taylor each finished with a goal and an assists while freshman Phin Sprague had an assist. 

Freshman Achilles Armendariz finished with seven ground balls while senior Parker Rankin finished with five. Defensively, sophomore. Tanner Wallace had four caused turnovers and three ground balls while senior Sean Smith and freshman David Miller each had two caused turnovers with Smith adding four ground balls and Miller picking up three. Junior Kyle Kuberski had eight saves in the cage.

Justin Gearig had three goals and one assist to lead Trine while Eric Peal added three as well. Steven Coyle had two caused turnovers while Joseph Steigmeyer had a nice game in net, finishing with 15 saves.

Southwestern is back to .500 at 5-5 and will return to action on Sunday as they take on Beloit at 3 PM from Varsity Field.