Springfield, Ohio – Despite a hard-fought comeback effort, the Wittenberg men's lacrosse team dropped a narrow 14-13 decision to the Crusaders from Capital University in their return home to Edwards-Maurer Field on Wednesday night. The Tigers overcame an 11-6 halftime deficit, winning the second half by a score of 7-3. The Wittenberg offense was led by Noah Moderwell, logging six goals on the night for the Red and White while adding three ground balls to his total. The two sides battled it out, as neither was able to take the significant edge in shot attempts or ground ball pick-ups, as each side came out even in each category.

Game Breakdown

Capital opened the scoring, taking the early 2-0 lead to start the game. After Lucas Klever cut the first Capital advantage in half with the first Tiger goal of the evening. Wittenberg later took advantage of the man-up opportunity when Michael Carluccio found the back of the Crusader net off the Connor Rice assist. As the two sides battled back and forth, Moderwell began his first-half hat-trick, scoring his first goal with just under three minutes left in the first period. Moderwell added two more goals in the second period with Cam Kennedy posting the third Wittenberg goal of the period. The two sides went back and forth trading goals in the second period before the Crusader closed out the half with three straight scores to take an 11-6 lead into the break. In a strong defensive effort in the third period, Wittenberg held Capital to just two goals in the third period. Andrew Ellis sparked the Tiger offense in the second half, coming off the Moderwell assist. Six Wittenberg goals in the fourth period, including four consecutive by four separate Tigers in under six minutes, brought the Red and White to within one of Capital with just 15 seconds remaining.

Who Stood Out

Tony LeBarge headed up the Wittenberg defense by forcing four Capital turnovers and picking up six groundballs. Jack Vierra added six ground ball pick-ups, causing two turnovers. Carluccio and Ellis each finished with two goals on the evening for the Red and White. Quinn McConkey helped Wittenberg take 12 of the 31 faceoff wins. Max Cavellier stood strong in goal for 60 minutes making 14 saves against 28 shots.

UP NEXT

Wittenberg will return to action on Saturday, Mar. 16 hosting the Cardinals of Otterbein University at 12:00 PM.