Men's Lacrosse Opens League Play With Win Over Saint Leo

SALISBURY, NC -- Catawba scored four of the first five goals and went on to top visiting Saint Leo 14-11 in Deep South Conference men’s lacrosse action on Thursday afternoon at Shuford Stadium and Kirkland Field.  The 12th-ranked Catawba Indians improve to 3-0 overall and 1-0 in the DSC.  The Lions fall to 1-1 and 0-1.

Braden Artem (Acton, Ontario, CANADA/Christ the King HS) scored four goals and grabbed eight ground balls to lead the Indians.  John Scheich (Waxhaw, NC/Weddington HS) added three goals and handed out a pair of helpers.  Michael Pecchia (Coquitlam, BC, CANADA/Heritage Woods HS) made 14 saves on 25 Saint Leo shots on goal.

Rob Van Bomel (Tampa, FL) got Saint Leo on the board quickly, scoring just a minute into the contest.  The Indians answered with four straight goals and led the rest of the way.  Scheich tied the game at the 8:57 mark then assisted on Brett Howe’s (Moseley, VA/Cosby HS) go-ahead goal with 7:11 left in the quarter.  Scheich added a second goal for a 3-1 edge, while Steven Ridolfo (Charlotte, NC/Providence HS/Gettysburg) ended the spurt with 4:25 to go in the quarter.

Trailing 9-4, the Lions got back in the game with a pair of goals in the final 30 seconds of the first half.  Chris Caiazza (Lindenhurst, NY) notched a goal at the 25 second mark, while Matt Obermeyer (Winter Springs, FL) tallied just 11 seconds before the break.  The teams traded goals in the third quarter with the Indians taking a 10-7 edge to the final quarter.

Catawba scored a pair of goals 10 seconds a part midway through the final quarter for a 12-8 lead, but the Lions stormed back with three straight tallies to pull within a single goal.  Obermeyer, Caiazza and George Proechel (Orlando, FL) had the goals that cut the margin to 12-11 with 1:43 left. 

The Indians won two key face-offs after that which led to a pair of goals.  Scheich stopped the Saint Leo run on a feed from Freddie Turcio (Guilford, CT/Guilford HS) with 1:19 remaining then Tom Cullop (New Windsor, MD/S. Carroll HS) added an empty net goal with 17 seconds left.

The game was evenly played between the teams.  Saint Leo held slight edges in shots (42-41) and ground balls (40-34), but Catawba cashed in with two goals on the only two man-up situations during the afternoon.  Ty Trombley (Penn Yan, NY) won 18-of-29 face-offs for the Lions.

Obermeyer led Saint Leo with five goals, while Caiazza added three.  Patrick Berry (Pasadena, MD) made a dozen saves in goal for the Lions.