PITTSBURGH - Chatham Men's Lacrosse (5-4) used a late fourth quarter winner from sophomore
Jacob Lubawy to defeat the Hood College Blazers (5-4) by the score of 8-7 at UPMC Graham Field on Saturday.
Lubawy led the Cougar offense with four points on two goals and two assists. Junior
Ethan Rinker and sophomore
Trent Griffin each contributed two goals, while freshman
Brady Rigdon had a goal and an assist.
Sophomore
Ethan Joshi tallied four ground balls and three caused turnovers. Rinker had two ground balls and caused two turnovers in addition to his two goals. In net,
Zen Smith earned his first win of the year, making 13 saves.
Hood took a 1-0 lead just under four minutes into the game, but Chatham responded with two quick goals from Rinker and Rigdon to go up 2-1. Griffin scored later in the quarter to increase the Cougar lead to two.
Defense dominated the second quarter as neither team netted a goal for over 10 minutes, until Lubawy found the net to put Chatham up 4-1. A Blazer goal made it 4-2, but senior
Isaac Joshi scored in the closing seconds of the first half to recapture the three-goal lead.
That three-goal lead was the largest of the game for the Cougars, and it disappeared with a 3-0 Hood run across the first ten minutes of the second half, which tied the game at 5. Another score from Griffin put Chatham in front again, but this time it was Hood with the last-second goal to knot it up heading into the fourth.
Hood took their first lead of the second half with 7:34 left in the game thanks to a man-up goal, but Chatham scored a man-up goal of their own, with Rigdon assisting Rinker, to pull level. Lubawy scored with 1:15 left to put the Cougars in front one final time, and it proved to be enough, as the Blazers could not force overtime despite an extra-man opportunity in the final minute.
Hood outshot Chatham 43-25 and dominated the faceoff circle 15-3, but the Cougars stood tall defensively with 13 saves to the Blazers' 7.
Men's Lacrosse will open conference play next Friday when they host the Westminster Titans.
