Bethany Lacrosse Outduels Westminster
April 6 – BETHANY, W. Va. – The Bethany College lacrosse team picked up their second-straight victory with a 19-15 win over Westminster College at Bison Stadium on Wednesday. The Bison had four players with at least three goals as they improved to 2-1 in the Ohio River Lacrosse Conference.
Westminster (2-2, 1-2 ORLC) jumped out to a 2-0 lead, scoring their first goal on a man-up situation.
The Bison (2-9, 2-1 ORLC) responded in a big way. Bethany scored four unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead over the Titans. Senior Grant Delaney (Wooster, Ohio/Wooster) had two goals during the run while sophomore Bryan Uth (Hedgesville, W. Va./Hedgesville) and junior Jake Holland (Canton, Ohio/Jackson) added one, each.
Delaney notched a hat trick at the 4:45 mark of the first quarter off a pass from sophomore Jacob Schiffer (Monkton, Md./Hereford). The Bison led 5-4 after the opening period.
Westminster opened the second with two quick goals to gain a 6-5 advantage over the hosts.
The Bison quickly regrouped before going on another scoring spree. Schiffer scored to tie the game before junior Tyler Peck (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) and Holland found the back of the net to take an 8-6 lead with 6:30 remaining.
Freshman Michael Loffredo (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) managed to sneak one past the Titans goaltender late in the half as Bethany held a 9-7 lead at the intermission. Bethany outshot their opponents 26-19 in the first half.
The second half saw a defensive battle early as neither team tallied a point until midway through the third quarter after the Titans scored to narrow the Bison advantage to one (9-8).
Peck extended the Bison lead back to two (10-8) with 7:14 remaining with his second goal of the game. The junior picked up the hat trick following another goal from Schiffer, making it 12-9 with 3:46 to play in the third.
The Bison scored again before the conclusion of the third period as Delaney took a pass from Holland for his fourth goal of the contest. Bethany led 13-9 after three.
The Green & White started to open up the game early in the fourth quarter. Delaney and Uth scored back-to-back goals to take a 15-10 advantage with 10:34 left on the clock.
After Westminster scored to make it 15-11, Uth found Schiffer off the ensuing faceoff to increase the lead back to five (16-11).
The Titans responded with two goals of their own to come within three (16-13), but that was as close as they would ever get. Uth took control in the closing minutes, scoring twice and earning an assist off a pass to Delaney with under a minute to play as the Bison coasted for the 19-15 victory.
It was a career day for Uth as he totaled a career-high seven points on four goals and three assists. The sophomore also set the single-game Bethany record with 15 groundballs while winning 24-of-32 attempts in the faceoff circle.
Delaney led the Bison with a season-high six goals after recording five in the previous game. Schiffer and Peck also recorded their second consecutive game with hat tricks, each scoring three on the Titans. Schiffer collected a team-high four assists while Holland added three assists of his own to go along with two goals.
The 34 goals between the two teams was the highest total ever recorded at Bison Stadium since the program reboot in 2011.
Defensively, Dominic Halstead (Columbia, Md./Wilde Lake) had a team-best four caused turnovers. Schiffer and Steve Pluas (Mt. Pocono, Pa./Keystone) collected two caused turnovers, each.
Bethany goaltender Sean Rhodes earned his second-straight win with 15 saves on a total of 38 shots.
The Bison will return to action on Saturday, April 9 when they welcome Hanover College for a 1 p.m. start time.
