BELMONT, N.C. — The Catawba College men's lacrosse team fended off a fourth-quarter comeback from Belmont Abbey to notch its second win of the year in 13-12 fashion at Alumni Field on Saturday afternoon.
TEAM STATS
- Despite the yo-yoing of Catawba (2-0) and Belmont Abbey (1-1) in the shot count, the regional rivals finished with near-identical counts as the visitors held a 41-40 advantage in attempts
- Conversely, on-goal tries were led by Belmont Abbey by a miniscule 25-24 margin
- Ground balls were nearly a dead heat with the Crusaders tallying one more pickup at 31-30
- The hosts' Achilles heel was turnovers as Catawba won the takeaway battle 21-11
- Neither side failed on the clear in the opening half, setting up strong days in transition for both teams with Catawba's 22-for-24 clip slightly more efficient than Abbey's 17-for-19
- The Crusaders had a dominant 9-2 record on faceoffs in the first half, but Catawba limited the damage in the second 30 minutes for a final margin of 19-10; Cael Petroff recorded nine wins on the dot
- Ben LoPiccolo went above .500 with 13 saves on 25 shots for the Catawba Indians while Eddie Kielkopf spent all but 2:24 in net for Belmont Abbey, saving 11 of his 21 shots faced
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Peyton Turner tied his career high in scoring with five goals while Garrett Simi also notched a hat trick on three goals, setting a new career-best mark for the senior midfielder
- Tanner Stout braced with two goals and one assist, also nabbing three ground balls
- Micah Stechmiller scored once and dished out a twine finder for a two-point performance
- Owen Conway scooped up a team-high six ground balls, followed by Petroff with five pickups
- Turner, Conway, Tigh Metheny and Jackson Byers each registered a caused turnover
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
- The brotherly connection of Boston Rehrer assisting Statton Rehrer struck in the contest's sixth minute to open the ledger, shortly before Jack Hart found Stout a couple minutes later to give Catawba a 2-0 lead
- Belmont Abbey capitalized on a Catawba miscue and found paydirt as the frame wound down
Second Quarter
- Early in the stanza, the Crusaders drew a one-minute penalty that they turned into a man-up goal to even the score at two tallies apiece
- Michael Lindsey and Simi scored to pump the Catawba Indian lead back to two at 4-2, but the Crusaders rallied back to tie it again
- After a pair of wide shots by the visitors, Turner cracked open his personal scoresheet with 38 seconds left for a 5-4 Catawba edge heading into the break
Third Quarter
- A halftime goalie change for the Crusaders was taken advantage of by Catawba who saw one Simi and two Turner goals force the hosts to re-enter Kielkopf
- Nonetheless, Turner kept churning with his third goal in under a minute of game time which boosted the blue and white to a 9-4 difference
- Abbey scored twice in 13 seconds before Simi stopped the skid with a hatty-sealing blast midway through the quarter
- A three-goal barrage from the Crusaders cut the gap to one, but Turner got another lick in to halt the run and send the game to quarter four at 11-9
Fourth Quarter
- Stechmiller picked up where Turner left off, firing home a dart to lift the gap to three
- Over the course of a three-minute period, the Crusaders developed a three-goal spurt to erase the deficit and make it a 12-12 contest with 6:15 to go
- Just 30 seconds after Abbey's third score, Catawba forced a turnover in the hosts' attacking zone; the next possession saw a deep pass nearly get intercepted, but Stout corralled the loose ball and tossed in the go-ahead strike
- Abbey hit the post and had an on-target shot stopped by LoPiccolo, which dashed the Crusaders' comeback opportunity
UP NEXT
The Catawba Indians travel eastward next Saturday, Feb. 21, to battle Barton at 4 p.m.
