CHESTER, Pa. (March 29, 2017) – Junior Chris Drake (Morristown, N.J.) and freshman Paz Gismondi (West Deptford, N.J.) each factored into four goals to help propel the Widener University men's lacrosse team to a 16-7 victory over Alvernia in a Middle Atlantic Conference Commonwealth game Wednesday evening.  

Widener fired off six straight goals to open the contest and never looked back. Drake put the Pride on the board just seconds into the game with a goal assisted by Gismondi, and then doubled the margin by firing the ball past goal keeper Kyle Augustine.

The hosts continued to pad their lead in the second quarter, as senior Tyler Shulte (Southhampton, N.J.) put them ahead 6-0 with the help from Gismondi's third assist of the game with 3:54 remaining on the clock. The Crusaders, who were held off the scoreboard for the opening 27 minutes of the contest, then got an unassisted goal from Collin Wall. A minute later, Shulte added another tally to create an 8-1 score at the recess.

Alvernia came out strong by scoring the first goal of the second half, however, the Pride answered back with a 3-0 run which carried their lead to 11-2. The Crusaders attempted to rally by scoring four unanswered goals in the fourth quarter, but the early deficit would prove to be too much to overcome.

Sophomore Matt Horton (Emmaus, Pa.) turned away six goals to pick up the victory between the pipes for Widener, which won 17 of 25 faceoffs, outshot its opponent by a 45-27 margin and had a 42-26 advantage in ground balls. Gismondi, Shulte, and Drake all provided a team-high of four points, while junior Shane Cook (Lincoln, Pa.) finished with three caused turnovers as well as five ground balls.

The Crusaders were paced by Sam St. Croix and Patrick Dunn in the losing effort. St. Croix tallied three goals and Dunn finished with two goals. Ausustine made nine saves in the cage.

Widener will return to action on Saturday, April 1 at 8:00 p.m. it takes on Lebanon Valley at home.