Washington, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's lacrosse team played its inaugural match as a program on Saturday, as they kicked their season off with a road matchup at Washington & Jefferson. The Panthers scored first in the game but ultimately lost to the Presidents 13-5.
Pitt-Bradford was under attack early, as the hosts took the first four shots of the game. Three of them missed the target, while the fourth was saved by Panther goalie, Hunter Shank. After 5 minutes of play, the Panthers went on the attack and picked up a man advantage after a Washington & Jefferson penalty. 20 seconds later, Evan Hawley sent a pass across the offensive zone to Nick Fischer, who corralled the pass, beat a defender, and fired a shot into the goal. The tally came on the Panther's first shot and was not only the freshman attacker's first career goal but also the program's.
The excitement did not last long as the hosts struck right back, quickly winning faceoffs and scoring three goals in a 50-second stretch. The Panthers settled down after the third and needed only 11 seconds to halve the lead. Ben Byers took possession of the ball behind the net and took off towards the crease. He sprinted past a defender and bounced a backhanded shot underneath the goalie for his first career tally. The Presidents answered with another goal on their next attempt, but the Panthers also struck back, taking control after a faceoff violation and converting the opportunity into another goal. Fischer took over again, juking his defender to the right and then whipping a shot into the goal for his 2nd of the game.
Pitt-Bradford started the second period on the front foot, taking a pair of shots through Byers and Evan Hawley, but could not find the net. They went on to rue the missed chance, as the hosts took advantage of a Pitt-Bradford turnover to score their 5th of the game. A minute later, Joshua Held had a shot stopped and then picked up a penalty, which resulted in the man advantage for the Presidents. They used the penalty to score their sixth and then scored two more in the half. Shank was able to make 6 saves in the period to keep the deficit at 5.
The Panthers did not fare much better in the third, as Washington & Jefferson scored right off the restart and then added two more in the 3rd quarter to extend their lead to 8. In the 4th, Pitt-Bradford was able to get a pair back. with 13:12 remaining, Shank made a save and the Panthers successfully cleared into the attacking end. Byers took a shot wide, but the Panthers recovered and once again found Fischer. Attacking from the left wing, Fischer ducked inside a defender and while sprinting to the middle of the field unleashed a low shot that bounced past the goalie for his third of the game.
The hosts came right back and matched the Panther goal, but Pitt-Bradford was not finished just yet. They scored one final goal two minutes later. Reid Kristufek picked up a ground ball after a Washington & Jefferson faceoff win and moved into the offensive end. Kristufek laid a pass off to Billy Tigar and continued his run to goal. Tigar fed it right back to Kristufek, who fired a shot but hit the post. The Panthers kept possession and eventually found Fischer coming off the bench. The attacker sprinted into the offensive end from the midfield and whipped a shot past the goalie for his 4th goal of the contest. The hoss added one final goal while don't he man advantage with seconds remaining on the clock.
Nick Fischer started his collegiate career off with a bang, scoring 4 times on 8 shots. he put 5 of them on target and also collected 3 ground balls. Ben Byers also scored in his collegiate debut, totaling 5 shots. Hunter Shank played all 60 minutes in the Panther net, making 15 saves on 28 shots.
The Panthers fall to 0-1 after the season-opening loss. They will return to action next Saturday when they travel to Wilkes-Barre to take on Wilkes University. The game is scheduled for a 2:00 p.m. start.
