CHESTER, Pa. (Apr. 27, 2015) – The fourth-seeded Widener men's lacrosse team outlasted fifth-seeded Lebanon Valley, 9-6, in the Commonwealth Conference Play-In Game on Monday night at Leslie C. Quick Stadium.

The Pride (7-9) advance to face-off against top-seeded Stevenson on Wednesday for a semi-final match-up slated to begin at 7 p.m. at Mustang Stadium in Owings Mills, Md.  The Dutchmen end their 2015 campaign at 8-8.

Juniors Tim Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Bryan Shields (Nazareth, Pa.) opened the scoring in the contest, each notching an unassisted effort in the opening minutes.  After 10 minutes had passed in the first quarter, LVC's Alex Bushong took advantage of an extra-man situation to cut the lead to one.  But less than a minute later, Taylor fed sophomore attacker Tyler Schulte (Southhampton, N.J.) to retake the two-score lead on a man-up goal.  The Dutchmen added another score in the 11^th minute to trail just 3-2 after the first quarter.

That would prove to be the closest the visitors would come to the blue and gold as junior Matt Natale (Pottstown, Pa.) found the back of the net off a Marc LaVine (Nashua, N.H.) helper, and Taylor followed with his second and third goals of the day off feeds from Clint Sanders (Willow Grove, Pa.) and Patrick Richardson (Westville, N.J.) giving the home squad a 6-2 lead.  Widener entered the intermission leading 7-3 after each squad tacked on an additional score at the end of the half.

The home squad saw its biggest lead of the night at 9-3 after sophomore Vince Marra (Morton, Pa.) and LaVine each sent home a tally in the third quarter.  But over the final 16:29 of play, LVC attempted a comeback, holding the Pride scoreless while adding three-straight scores.

The attempt fell short as junior Tyler McClary (Galena, Ohio) improved to 6-1 in cage, recording eight saves on the night.  His counterpart Eric Wilcoxson turned aside nine Pride shots in the loss.

Taylor led the way with five points (3g, 2a).  LaVine added a goal and an assist.  For the Dutchmen, Alex Bushong and Austin Minnich each netted two scores.

The Pride outshot LVC 34-27, including an 18-14 mark on goal.  Freshman midfielder Anthony Paone (Warrington, Pa.) helped Widener to win 13-of-19 face-offs with eight ground balls, and the home squad scooped up 35 groundballs to the visitors' 25.

Next up for Widener is a trip to Owings Mills, Md. for a Semi-final match-up against seventh-ranked and top-seeded Stevenson on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Mustang Stadium.