CONWAY, Ark. — Southwestern men's lacrosse picked up where it left off last season, showcasing a high-powered offense, smothering defense, and dominant face-off game in a 19-6 victory over the Hendrix Warriors.
Senior Zac Asbury led the Pirate offense with six points, scoring two unassisted goals and orchestrating the offense with four assists.
After a slow first quarter in which Southwestern put together a 2-1 lead, the Pirate offense opened up in the second, sparked by the play of junior midfielder Jack Doloszycki, who found Matt Caldwell in the opening minute of the quarter for a goal.
After Hendrix's Ezra Terry and Southwestern's Tommy Saueressig exchanged a pair of unassisted goals, Doloszycki expanded the Pirates' lead with back-to-back scores within less than a minute of each other, scoring the first off a feed from Asbury and creating the second on his own for a 6-2 lead.
Hendrix answered with a quick, unassisted goal from Maximus LeMendola, but Jacob Hamilton responded with a goal from Cody Foster, and Doloszycki scored his third goal of the quarter off a pass from Tyler Johnson to pick up the hat trick. The Warriors' Alex Davis put Hendrix on the board once more with a feed from LaMendola with 31 seconds remaining in the half, and the Pirates led 8-4 at the break.
Southwestern put the match away in the third quarter, shutting out Hendrix and scoring five goals, with Asbury going to work with two goals and an assist.
Cody Foster did a lot of the offense damage in the fourth quarter, doing most of his work behind the net, circling for an over-the-shoulder shot for the first goal of the quarter. He also produced two assists, hitting Brady Middleton and Jarrett Zillman for scores in a 6-2 quarter.
Hudson Bearden set the tone for Southwestern, winning 23 of his 25 face-off attempts and grabbing 17 ground balls to allow Southwestern to dominate possession. The Pirates' swarming defense also caused 11 turnovers, led by long-stick midfielders Tyler Santos and Aiden Gildea, who combined for five.
Southwestern held a 60-29 advantage in ground balls and a 57-28 edge in shots for the game.
Southwestern improves to 1-0 with the victory, making it five in a row dating back to last season. The Pirates will travel to Centenary on Sunday, Feb. 21.
