PITTSBURGH, Pa. - Chatham Men's Lacrosse (2-2) suffered a 14-9 loss against the Wittenberg Tigers (2-0) on Tuesday at UPMC Graham Field. The Cougars' second-half push came up short after the Tigers dominated the first half.
Chatham was led by sophomore
Jacob Lubawy, who had five points on a goal and four assists. Sophomore
Alex Stanuikynas and freshman
Tanner Marsh each had two goals and an assist on the day. Sophomore
Trent Griffin netted two goals while senior Issac Joshi tallied a goal and an assist. First year
Luke Iovino scored his second goal of the season, and junior
Ethan Rinker and freshman
Brady Rigdon each recorded assists. Defensively, junior
Thomas Curtin caused three turnovers and had eight ground balls while going 4-7 on faceoffs. Freshman
Devin Traister was 6-14 in the faceoff circle with six ground balls. Sophomore
Brett Zaruba made 18 saves in net.
The Cougars jumped out to a first quarter lead at 9:21 when Issac Joshi fed Iovino for the score, but the Tigers would respond with their first goal just under two minutes later. Chatham regained the lead at 5:21 when Griffin scored on an assist from Lubawy, but that was the last lead the Cougars would hold as the Tigers scored the last three goals of the first quarter and the first four goals of the second quarter to take an 8-2 lead. A goal from Marsh cut the deficit to five, but the Tigers took it back to six in the final minute of the second quarter.
Chatham made a comeback push in the third, with goals from Joshi, Stanuikynas and Griffin cutting the lead to 10-6 before the end of the third quarter. In the fourth, the Tigers scored twice in the first five minutes to cement their lead. Marsh, Stanuikynas and Lubawy each had markers in the final 8:10, but the Cougars could not pull within five.
Shots were 54-36 in favor of the Tigers. Neither team was able to convert on an extra-man opportunity, with Chatham 0-5 and Wittenberg 0-3. The Tigers won the faceoff battle 15-11.
Men's Lacrosse returns on Saturday at 1 p.m. when they take on Centenary University on the road.
