Huntingdon, PA -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's lacrosse team remained in Huntingdon, PA, on Sunday to play their second game in as many days at Juniata's Gibbel Stadium. The Panthers struggled to find their legs early, fell behind and lost 15-3.
Pitt-Bradford found themselves trailing from the outset as the hosts won the opening faceoff and scored on their first shot of the game after 8 seconds. They continued to attack Evan Stack in the Panther goal, taking 5 more shots before Ben Byers took the Panthers' first effort towards goal after 2:41. The Eagles went on to score 4 more goals in the first period, adding to their tally in the 11th, 8th, 4th, and 2nd minutes. Stack additionally stopped 5 shots, while the Panthers forced 3 saves on the other end.
Juniata increased their lead to 6 with a goal 1:17 into the 2nd quarter. The Panthers were able to get on the board next, scoring with 11:03 left in the half. Jaden Freeland found plenty of space on the left side of the net, drew a defender towards him and found Joshua Held on the far side of the goal. Held collected the pass and then fired another pass back across the goal mouth to billy Tigar who caught and fired a shot into the goal. Juniata got the goal back 4 minutes later and scored again 6:22 to go ahead 8-1. Despite losing the ensuing faceoff, Christian Beasley forced a turnover and sent the Panthers into the offensive end. Julian Florez picked up the loose ball and got it to Tigar on the right flank. The sophomore attacker circled behind the goal and then sent a pass to the top of the offensive zone for Byers, who caught the pass and unleashed a shot from distance that beat the goalie high for his first of the game. The Eagles went on to score two more goals in the quarter, including one in the final seconds to go to the break with Pitt-Bradford trailing 10-2.
After halftime, the hosts held on to the momentum from the first half and dominated early possession. Stack made three early saves, but Juniata scored two goals in quick succession at the 10-minute mark to go ahead 12-2. After 6 minutes of action without a goal, Byers was able to tally his second of the game with 3:38 remaining in the third. Byers picked up a ground ball and then flipped a pass to Jaden Freeland deep in the offensive zone. Freeland sent a pass back to Byers, who took another long shot, finding the lower quadrant of the goal for his second.
In the 4th, Juniata added three more goals, but Stack limited more damage, making 8 more saves. Tigar and Byers each put a shot on target in the quarter, but could not add to the Panthers tally.
Ben Byers scored twice for the Panthers, bringing his weekend total to 7. He took 8 shots and put 4 of them on target. Billy Tigar scored one goal and had an assist while putting 5 of 6 shot attempts on goal. Joshua Held and Jaden Freeland also had assists for the Panthers. Evan Stack made 25 saves on 40 shots in the loss.
The Panthers drop to 2-4 after the loss. They will take a week off and prepare for the program's home opener on Saturday, March 22nd. It will be the first official lacrosse game at Rathburn Family Field as the Panthers take on the Bethany Bison. Details about festivities surrounding the home opener will be made available later this week. The game is scheduled for a 1:00 p.m. start.
