Bradford, PA – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's lacrosse team hosted the Penn College Wildcats on Wednesday afternoon as it hosted its first conference game as a member of the United East. The Panthers were ambushed by the Wildcats, falling behind early and eventually losing the contest 21-3.
The visitors opened the scoring after 105 seconds of action and then, within a minute, doubled their advantage. The Panthers drew a penalty after a Hunter Shank save, looking to get on the scoreboard. Logan Watts hit the post twice but could not find the net, and after killing off the penalty, the Wildcats countered and scored their third. The Wildcats continued to push forward for the remainder of the quarter, and despite five Shank saves, took an 8-0 lead into the second quarter.
The Panthers slowed the Wildcat attack for the first 8 mintues of the second quarter, keeping the deficit at 8. Shank tacked on 7 more saves before the visitors scored on back-to-back shots to go ahead by 10. Despite being a man down, the Wildcats tacked on one more goal in the opening half, sending the game to the break with an 11-0 lead.
Pitt-Bradford got off to a quick start in the 2nd half, as they took advantage of an early Penn penalty to score while a man up. Luke Amberman passed to Watts behind the net, and then, using a screen from Reid Kristufek, Watts passed back to Amberman, who placed a shot in the far corner to score the Panthers' first. The Wildcats resumed control of the game after the goal, scoring 7 unanswered goals of their own in the quarter.
In the 4th, Penn tacked on another goal before Amberman found the net for his second. Following a restart, Amberman darted past his defender, found space in the middle of the defense, and fired a shot past the goalie to double his tally. The visitors scored two more times despite 3 Shank saves, before the Panthers closed the scoring with another man-up goal. Amberman and Watts once again exchanged passes from the left wing and behind the net before Amberman whipped a shot into the goal for his third of the game.
Luke Amberman led the Panthers as their only goal scorer, registering 3 goals on 6 shots. Logan Watts finished with 2 assists. Austyn Stack won 14/26 draws and led the team with 12 ground balls. Hunter Shank was credited with 25 saves in the loss.
The loss drops the Panthers to 11-4 on the season, with a 1-1 mark in United East play. They will bring their regular season to a close on Saturday, as they hit the road to take on St. Mary's (MD). Opening faceoff is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.
