The Pirates had a whole week of rest and preparation going into their game against the Kalamazoo Hornets. This recovery after a week where they played four games will be crucial going into the season's final stretch. One might think with a start time of 10:00 AM, the Pirates might be slow on the start, but the Pirates were itching to take it to the Hornets.
Southwestern launched out to a 6-1 lead in the first quarter, Fr. Matthew Sganga and So. Axel Aymond led off the scoring for the Pirates to make it 2-1 at 9:30 in the quarter. Sr. Cody Foster scored back-to-back goals, and it was as if smoke was coming off Foster's stick from how hard he shot the ball throughout the day. A few minutes later, Cade McDonald made his arrival to the game, scoring two goals in under a minute to give the Pirates the 6-1 lead. But two scores by the Hornets cut that lead to 6-3 by the end of quarter one.
The second quarter was a free-for-all for the Pirates, with five different goal scorers, including one from faceoff man Hudson Bearden. Bearden won his faceoff, took off running, threw a fake, and stung the bottom corner of the net, leaving the Hornets in disbelief. Bearden would have two goals in the game, with Fr. faceoff man Anthony Caudillo getting his own, a rare but welcome site having three goals off the faceoff unit. The Hornets had two man-up goals in the second, but it made no impact, and the Pirates extended their lead to 11-5 at halftime.
Incredibly, the Pirates outperformed themselves in the scoring column in the third quarter, notching seven goals, beating the six and five goals they scored in the first and second quarter, respectively. In total, 14 players scored for the Pirates throughout the day. McDonald and Foster had the most goals with four apiece, but Foster had the most points on the day because of his two assists. To finish off a fantastic performance by the Pirates, Jr. attackman Logan Kenny had his first goal of the year with a nice catch and finish on the crease off an equally precise assist from Tyler Johnson.
The Pirates went 72 percent from the faceoff, an absolutely dominant performance by both Bearden and Caudillo. They also shot the ball relentlessly with 62 shots, an absolute nightmare for any goaltender. Great effort was shown in the ground ball game, outperforming the Hornets 37-24. Sr. Jack Doloszycki had a day on the ground and the faceoff wing, scooping up five ground balls. Shooting 37 percent as a team, winning a high percentage of faceoffs, and out-ground-balling a team is a massive recipe for success and helped the Pirates defeat Kalamazoo 23-9.
Men's Lacrosse will be on the road for the next two games, playing the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins on April 1st at 7:00 PM CST and then the McDaniel College Green Terror on April 3rd at 11:00 AM CST.
