GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Bethany College men’s lacrosse team matched a season-high by scoring five goals in the fourth quarter, but the damage had already been done, as Thiel took an 8-1 lead by halftime and went on to a 19-8 victory over the Bison Saturday.
The game could not have had a better start for BC (1-9). Freshman Travis Granich (Huntington, W.Va.) won the opening faceoff, which allowed Bethany to score just 21 seconds into the game. Sophomore Kyle Arrington (Jackson Twp., Pa./Jackson), who had another strong game offensively, scored off an assist from freshman Conley Bartelt (Woodbridge, Va./Forest Park) to give the Green and White a 1-0 lead.
However, the Tomcats (2-8) would post the only scores for the rest of the first half. Thiel won the faceoff right after BC’s goal and tied the game just 45 seconds later. They would score three more times in the first quarter and used three goals in a span of 2:03 in the second quarter to build an 8-1 margin by intermission.
The Bison tried to build momentum for the second half with the first goal of the third quarter. After a penalty on Thiel gave BC an extra-man opportunity, Arrington scored an unassisted goal at the 11: 45 mark to make it an 8-2 spread.
The Tomcats would put the game out of reach with a scoring eruption near the midway point of the third period. The hosts scored five times in a span of 2:12 to swell their cushion to 13-2. Arrington picked up his third goal of the game off an assist from Granich to break the string, but TC posted three more scores before the end of the quarter for a 17-3 advantage going into the final stanza.
Thiel recorded the first two goals of the final quarter to stretch their lead to 19-3, but Bethany closed the game with a flourish, notching the final five goals of the day. Freshman Robbie Foster (Greatbridge, Va.) scored the first two, which was followed by a goal from Bartelt and then a score on an extra-man opportunity by freshman Corey Doneski (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck), his first goal of the year. The Bison’s final goal came from Bartelt with 55 seconds to play.
The four points from Arrington was his second-highest total of the season. A strong game was also turned in by Granich, who in addition to his one assist, led the team with 10 ground balls and also won a season-best nine faceoffs. Freshman Eric Sowinski (Pittsburgh, Pa./Seton LaSalle) was second in the game with six ground balls.
Bethany now has a week off and will return to action next Saturday (April 16) when it completes its home schedule with a match-up against Oberlin at 1:30 p.m.
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