NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - The Westminster College men's lacrosse team fell, 20-11, at home in their season opener against Grove City College in the first ever contest at the UMPC Sports Complex on Saturday.
Westminster (0-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead early over Grove City (1-0) with two quick goals courtesy of sophomore
Hamish Mathwin (Marion, Australia / Westminster) and junior
Shawn Kernaghan (Denver, PA / Cocalico) just over five minutes into the contest. The Wolverines responded with four consecutive goals (4-2) and scored seven of the remaining nine goals in the frame to lead 7-4 after one. The Titans deposited the first three goals of the second stanza to knot the game back up at seven a-piece, before Grove City scored two more tallies to take a 9-7 into the halftime break.
In the second half, Grove City extended its lead to 13-8 with 1:11 left in the period before Mathwin buried his third goal of the contest in the waning second of the period to cut the Wolverines' lead to 13-9. The Wolverines scored the first seven goals of the final frame and closed out the contest.
Mathwin led Westminster with a career-high (tied a game-high) five goals. Junior
Joe Rosa (Newton, NJ / Kittatinny Regional) followed with two goals and corralled three ground balls. Kernaghan, senior
Shane Fisher (Palm Harbor, FL / East Lake) and sophomores
Ryan Greer (Cranberry Twp, PA / Seneca Valley) and
Boyd Foster (Lincoln, RI / Lincoln) each contributed a goal for Westminster. Greer and Foster each registered an assist. First-year
Payton Waight (Ithaca, NY / Ithaca) dished out a team-high four assists.
On the defensive end, junior
Mike Roman (Fort Washington, PA / Germantown Academy) led with a team-high five caused turnovers and collected four ground balls. First-year
Colin O'Malley (Pittsburgh, PA / North Allegheny) collected seven ground balls and won seven faceoffs. Sophomore goalkeeper
Connor Doyle (Glen Aubrey, NY / Whitney Point) collected 11 saves and had a game-high nine ground balls.
Westminster will be back in action on Saturday, March 6 when it travels to West Virginia to take on Bethany College for its first road game of the season.
