Bethany Lacrosse Falls to Thiel
April 19 – BETHANY, W. Va. – In their final home game of the 2016 season, the Bethany College lacrosse team dropped a 14-7 decision to Ohio River Lacrosse Conference opponent, Thiel College, on Tuesday evening. Prior to the matchup, the Bison celebrated senior day, where they honored Grant Delaney (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) and Tim Pagano (Erie, Pa./Fort Leboeuf) who were each appearing in their final game at Bison Stadium.
The Tomcats spoiled the senior day by jumping out to a 6-2 lead after one quarter of action. Thiel got the first goal of the game with just over 1:30 gone in the contest. Jared Saffer found the back of the net on a pass from Brennan O'Shea to male the score 1-0.
Bethany would respond in the early goings, tallying the next two scores to take their first lead of the matchup. With 11:14 to play in the frame, Lamont Sweeny (Columbia, Md./Reservoir) scored his seventh goal of the season, unassisted, to knot the game at 1-1. Jacob Schiffer (Monkton, Md./Hereford) tallied his first of three goals, five minutes later, giving the Green & White a 2-1 advantage.
Thiel would respond, posting five more goals over the final 4:14 of the frame. O'Shea tallied two goals, while Aaron Parry assisted or scored on four of the five. When the dust settled, the Bison found themselves trailing by four goals after one (6-2).
In the second quarter, the Bison were able to lock down defensively, outscoring the Tomcats 3-2, to pull within three goals at the half. Thiel posted the first two goals of the frame to make the score 8-2, before the Bison responded with three unanswered to end the first stanza.
Holland scored his 18th of the season at the 8:07 mark of the frame, before Schiffer finished off his hat trick with the final two goals of the quarter. The first, an unassisted goal, came with 6:01 to play, while the latter was scored off an assist from Holland with 2:24 to play. The assist was the 22nd of the season for Holland.
The second half saw the Green & White offense slow dramatically, as the Bison tallied just two goals in the third quarter and zero in the fourth. Anthony Helias (Erie, Pa./McDowell ) tallied his second goal of the season off Holland's second assist of the game. The other tally came from Holland on an assist from Schiffer.
Despite the pair of goals by the Bison, Bethany found themselves outscored by the Tomcats, 6-2, in the second half, registering the final score at 14-7, in favor of the visitors.
Offensively, the Bison were led by Schiffer's eighth multi-point game of the season. The sophomore finished with four points, totaling his second-consecutive hat trick while adding an assist. Holland also finished the game with four points (2 goals/2 assists), while Helias and Sweeny each notched a goal.
Defensively, Dominic Halstead (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake) led the way with three caused turnovers and eight ground balls on the day. Sophomore Bryan Uth (Hedgesville, W. Va./Hedgesville) finished the contest with a team-high 10 ground balls while winning 13-of-22 faceoff chances in the circle.
Bethany will conclude their 2016 season on Saturday, April 23, when they travel to Washington, Pa. to take on the Presidents of Washington & Jefferson College. The ORLC matchup is scheduled for a 1 p.m. start.
