NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – Sophomore Zack Shorts (Westlake Village, CA / Oak Park) scored a game- and season-high six goals in the Westminster College men's lacrosse team's 19-7 win over Defiance College in its Ohio River Lacrosse Conference (ORLC) opener at home on Saturday.
 
Six Titans had multiple goals, led by Shorts (6), freshman Alex Kennedy (Moon Township, PA / Moon Area) (3), and sophomore Shamon Walker (Pittsburgh, PA / Milton Hershey) (3). Kennedy added a game- and season-high four assists.
 
Westminster (2-0, 1-0 ORLC) had a 7-0 lead with under five minutes remaining in the first half. Walker scored the first goal with 4:56 left in the first quarter. Shorts registered his first of six goals at the 4:30 mark in the first. A goal by freshman Max Wike (Highland, MD / Resrvoir) with 2:01 remaining gave the Titans a 3-0 lead after one quarter of play.
 
Kennedy extended Westminster's lead to 4-0 with a goal at the 12:09 mark in the second quarter, followed by a score each by Shorts (11:19), sophomore Danny Mercer (Seven Fields, PA / Seneca Valley) (5:54), and Walker (4:33), to make it 7-0 in favor of the Titans. Defiance (0-6, 0-3 ORLC) broke the shutout with a goal by Baily Weatherwax with 3:33 remaining in the half. Shorts scored his third goal in the half with 2:50 remaining, while freshman Luke Murawski (Moon Township, PA / Moon Area) added a score with 23 seconds remaining, bringing the score to 9-1. Defiance's Cody Coles snuck a goal in before the half ended with two seconds on the clock and Westminster led 9-2 at intermission.
 
Shorts connected on back-to-back goals to start the third quarter (14:36, 12:46) to extended Westminster's lead to 11-2. After Defiance netted two-straight goals (12:29, 8:50) in the third, Westminster registered three-straight to take a 14-4 lead. Murawski (7:27), Mercer (1:12), and freshman Reid Lutz (Pittsburgh, PA / West Allegheny) (0:02) earned the goals.
 
In the fourth quarter, Kennedy and Walker scored at the 12:57 and 8:38 marks, respectively, putting the Titans in front 16-4. Each team scored three more goals for the remainder of the game. The Yellow Jackets had a score at 8:14, 7:24, and 0:41. The Titans' scores were courtesy of Shorts (7:43), Kennedy (3:00), and Wike (1:04).
 
Titan freshman goalkeeper Carter Hall (Zeeland, MI / Zeeland West) (2-0) went 52:04 minutes, while giving up four goals and earning six saves.
 
The Titans are back in action next Saturday, April 2, when they host Saint Vincent College at 1 p.m.