SALISBURY, N.C. — The 11th-ranked Catawba College men's lacrosse team cracked open the fireworks on Senior Day, tallying the program's largest margin of victory since 2012 in a dominating 26-4 rout of Mars Hill on Saturday afternoon at Shuford Stadium.
TEAM STATS
- Catawba (11-2, 6-2 SAC) logged a season-high .464 shot percentage with 56 deliveries as Mars Hill (2-11, 1-7 SAC) registered 27 shots with a .148 success rate, tying the lowest clip among Catawba Indian opponents this year
- The blue and white more than tripled the Lions in on-target shots with a 37-10 gap
- Mars Hill committed 24 turnovers, the second-most of Catawba's foes, while the hosts had a middle-of-the-road day with 15 turnovers
- Catawba boasted a dominant advantage in ground balls at 44-19 with a 22-for-25 (.888) clearing percentage, besting the Lions' 13-for-17 (.765)
- Cael Petroff captained the hosts' potency on faceoffs, claiming 17 of Catawba's 20 wins while Mars Hill totaled 13 triumphs – all by AJ Howland
- Ben LoPiccolo took the win with five saves in 36 minutes as he, Brady Gauntner and Hunter Mestey combined for a .600 save percentage in net; Xavier Wells absorbed the decision in 40 minutes of action, making eight of the Lions' 11 saves
INDIVIDUAL STATS
- Tanner Stout registered a career-high 10 points on six goals and four assists
- Michael Lindsey hat-tricked with five points – three goals and two assists – as Statton Rehrer also turned in three scores and earned credit for one dime
- Micah Stechmiller notched four points on two goals and two assists with Hunter Clarke rounding out the multiple-time scorers with a pair of strikes and an assist
- Boston Rehrer netted one goal and dished out two assists for a three-point day, finishing ahead of five Catawba Indians with two points and four with one
- Petroff led the ground ball count with a season-best 11 pickups (one shy of his career high), followed by Stout with five as well as Clarke and Jack Mercer at three each
- LoPiccolo, Eric Fruge, Griffin Davis, Xan Varner and Jackson Byers accounted for Catawba's five caused turnovers with one takeaway apiece
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Quarter
- An initial flurry of turnovers ultimately led to Mars Hill scoring first as Caleb Nelson found paydirt in the contest's third minute
- The Catawba cavalry came, however, starting with the Rehrer connection from Statton to Boston striking a minute later to tie it
- Stout netted the next three goals in a 1:34 span as Boston Rehrer assisted on the first and third with Andrew Crumpacker getting the helper on the second
- Davis took a ground ball coast-to-coast and scored his second career goal before Mercer, Stechmiller and Lindsey closed the quarter with darts for an 8-1 edge through 15 minutes
Second Quarter
- Again the Lions drew first blood, banging the quarter's first shot off the post but returning on the next possession with a goal from James Hartley
- Catawba successfully repelled the Lions from cutting deeper into their deficit, piling on goals from Statton Rehrer, Crumpacker and Peyton Turner in the early portion of the period
- Stout picked up a loose ball and found Simi who threw a bullseye, increasing the lead to double digits at 12-2
- Benefitting from a 30-second offside penalty against Mars Hill, Stout scored on Catawba's first man-up opportunity
- Lindsey hit twine inside the four-minute mark, extending the hosts' lead to 14-2 where it stood for the rest of the half
Third Quarter
- The Catawba Indians linked three goals together to open the second half with Simi assisting Stechmiller, followed by Stechmiller assisting Stout, then Stout assisting Statton Rehrer for a man-up goal at the tail-end of a one-minute power play
- MHU ended Catawba's 9-0 run with a strike from Aiden McNamara
- Stout and Lindsey fired bullseyes in the middle section of the stanza ahead of Clarke ripping a heater into the net late, bumping the score to 20-3 through three quarters
Fourth Quarter
- A 30-second pushing against the Lions set up a quick man-advantage blast from Statton Rehrer
- After multiple misses, Catawba got through again as Matt Cetrone scored off a feed from Peter Geraffo
- Conner Habeeb tossed in the second goal of his college career with Clarke following, giving Catawba back-to-back unassisted strikes, 33 seconds apart
- Luke Moore put another slash in the MHU scoring column, but the blue and white retorted in a hurry via Zander Adkins tickling the twine
- Adkins assisted Geraffo on the last goal of the day, reaching the final score of 26-4
UP NEXT
The Catawba Indians head to rival Wingate on Wednesday, Apr. 22, to take on the fourth-ranked Bulldogs under the lights at 7 p.m.
