Pittsburgh, PA -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's lacrosse team traveled to Pittsburgh on Thursday to take on La Roche in its final non-conference matchup of the season. The Panthers completely dominated play, outshooting the hosts 69-2 in a 24-0 victory.
Mikey Blake opened the scoring after three and a half minutes. The freshman started with possession behind the net, beat his defender inside, and then bounced a shot into the goal. Luke Amberman doubled the lead two minutes later, using a screen from a teammate and a swim move to get in front of the goal before bouncing an overhead shot into the goal. The Panthers struggled to find the net for the next 5 minutes, taking 6 shots that missed the target. Logan Watts finally found the net with 3:30 remaining in the quarter, putting the Panthers ahead 3-0. Reid Kristufek found Watts cutting through the middle of the defense, where the freshman caught the pass and placed a shot into the bottom corner.
Pitt-Bradford scored immediately off the draw for their 4th of the game. After subbing onto the field, Christian Beasley sprinted past his defender on the right flank and whipped a shot into the top of the net. Despite leading 4-0, the Panthers were not finished in the first quarter, as they tacked on two more goals before the end of the period. With just over a minute left, Sam Kemp set a screen for Jaden Freeland and spun into open space at the top of the zone. Freeland dropped a pass to Kemp, who whipped a low shot that crept over the line for Pitt-Bradford's fifth. 18 seconds later, Beasley picked up a loose ball in the zone, spun past his defender, and fired into the goal to double his tally and put the Panthers up 6-0 after one quarter.
The Panthers picked up where they left off to begin the second quarter, forcing LaRoche into two early saves. After 4 minutes of action, the Panthers added to their lead through Watts. Following a LaRoche turnover, goalie Evan Stack found Kristufek near midfield and began a counterattack. Kristufek bounced off a check from a LaRoche midfielder and moved into the offensive half. Kristufek drew in a defender and dropped a pass off to Amberman, who quickly found Watts in front of the goal for an easy close-range finish. Two minutes later, Watts scored again. Blake drew a pair of Redhawk defenders to the left wing before passing to Watts for his second consecutive finish from just outside the crease.
Pitt-Bradford's domination continued in the next minute, as the Panthers scored two more goals within seconds of each other. Kristufek scored the first, spinning away from his defender before whipping a shot into the top corner. Directly after Austyn Stack won the ensuing faceoff, Evan Hawley found Amberman wide open from behind the net for an easy finish. With 5:#0 to go, Amberman turned provider once again, assisting Watts for the 2nd time in the quarter. He picked up a ground ball after a La Roche Turnover in the offensive zone and quickly passed to Watts, who caught the pass and ripped a shot into the top of the net from 5 yards out. Blake finished the half for the Panthers, scoring the 12th goal of the game with 2:30 left in the half. He beat the defender on the right wing with pace and then perfectly placed a shot into the top corner at the near post.
Jaden Freeland kicked off the scoring in the second half, scoring after nearly 4 minutes of play in the quarter. He caught a pass from Amberman near the top of the zone and quickly whipped a shot into the corner to join the scoresheet. 30 Seconds later, Amberman scored on the first shot after the faceoff. Watts lobbed a pass to an open Amberman on the back side of the defense, who quickly sniped a shot to the far post for the Panthers' 14th goal. A few minutes later, Beasley picked up a ground ball after a missed Pitt-Bradford pass and shot through traffic into the goal for his third of the game. Watts closed the quarter with two more goals, bringing his total to 5 for the game. Mikey Blake assisted the first with a pass back against the grain for a perfectly placed shot to the far post by Watts. With a minute left in the quarter, Kristufek passed to Watts cutting in front of goal, who caught the pass and released a shot in one motion to beat the goalie and put the Panthers up 17-0 after three quarters.
The Panthers continued to find offensive success in the 4th, scoring 7 more times in the final period. Amberman found Hawley open for the first, as the left-handed sophomore caught the pass in traffic and fired to the bottom corner for his first of the game. A minute later, Amberman scored on his own on an assist from David De La Teja. The Panthers used a pick-and-roll play again, forcing the hosts into a double team before Amberman fired into the top of the net.
With 10 minutes to go, the Panthers continued to roll, scoring a goal in each of the next three minutes. Hawley passed to Kemp from behind the net for the first, and then Watts and Amberman combined for the second. From his normal position below the goal line, Watts passed to Amberman at the top of the zone, who used a leaping shot to find an angle to bounce the ball into the goal. A minute later, Watts scored for the final time. Evan Hawley caught the ball in front of the net and intentionally bounced a pass through traffic to Watts for the easy finish.
In the final minutes, the Panthers tacked on two final goals. AJ Nardi got on the score sheet with 5 minutes to go, catching a pass from Watts in front of the goal before bouncing a shot into the net. Two minutes later, Amberman closed the scoring. He caught a pass from Blake and swerved through the defense before beating the goalie for the 6th time.
The Panther offense continued to click in the victory, surpassing 20 goals for the third consecutive game. Logan Watts led the way for the Panthers wth 7 goals and 3 assists. Luke Amberman also recorded 10 points in the win, picking up 6 goals and 4 assists. Christian Beasley scored 3 goals on just 4 shots, while Mikey Blake scored twice and added two assists. Sam Kemp tacked on two goals on both of his shots, while Evan Hawley scored once and assisted on 3 goals. Reid Kristufek, Jaden Freeland, and AJ Nardi also scored for the Panthers. Evan Stack started in goal for the Panthers and stopped the only shot on goal he faced in 33 minutes of action. He picked up his 2nd win of the year. Nolan Walsh and Colin Shank played 17 and 10 minutes respectively, but did not face any shots. The Panthers dominated the faceoff circle, winning 23-27 at the dot. Austyn Stack won 14 of 17, while Tristan Kessler was 8 for 9, and Beasley won his only draw.
The Panthers move to 11-3 on the season with the win. They will close their regular season next week with a pair of United East Conference games. They will begin by hosting Penn College at 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, April 22nd, and then close the season at St. Mary's of Maryland on Saturday.
