SALISBURY, N.C. — The 16th-ranked Catawba College men's lacrosse team fell into a 6-0 hole early, but cut the gap to two before ultimately suffering its first loss of the year to No. 17 Newberry, 15-11, in its home opener and both squads' South Atlantic Conference opener on Wednesday night at Shuford Stadium.
TEAM STATS
- Catawba (4-1, 0-1 SAC) led the shot count 37-33 despite the Wolves' (5-2, 1-0 SAC) overwhelming 13-7 advantage in the opening period; the difference in on-goal attempts favored the hosts by a slight 23-22 margin
- Turnovers threatened to put Newberry at risk of a comeback as the visitors committed a whopping 27 turnovers, 50% more than Catawba's 18
- The Wolves fully commanded the ground ball battle with a 44-28 gap
- The Catawba Indians tied their season low of two failed clears, going 19-for-21 (.905) while the Wolves registered an 18-for-23 (.783) clearing clip
- Neither team managed to capitalize on a total of seven extra-man opportunities, but Newberry buried a pair of goals that nullified delayed Catawba infractions
- Newberry was a forceful 21-for-28 (.750) at the faceoff dot with Houston Horton's 13 wins leading the way; Catawba won seven duels paced by Cael Petroff with six
- Ben LoPiccolo, the defending SAC Specialist of the Week, bagged seven saves for Catawba while Ben McMullen went above .500 with 12 saves for the Wolves
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Peyton Turner headlined the offensive unit with four points on three goals and one assist to complete his eighth career hat trick
- Statton Rehrer tied his career high of four points with two goals and two assists
- Micah Stechmiller was effective on both sides of the ball, netting two goals with an assist while also collecting four ground balls and causing two turnovers
- Tanner Stout scored on both of his on-target shots with one ground ball pickup and his first caused turnover of the season
- Eric Fruge joined Stechmiller in the team lead for takeaways with a pair of caused turnovers
- LoPiccolo and Peter Myers, marking a career high for the rookie, each grabbed three ground balls
UP NEXT
Catawba returns to the road this weekend, battling Lincoln Memorial on Saturday, Mar. 7, at 1 p.m. in Harrogate, Tenn.
