CHESTER, Pa. – Defender Drew Venit tacks on a Pride goal and earns his first goal of the season in a 17-8 MAC crossover win over the Arcadia Knights.
 
Following the victory, the Pride improve to 3-5 in the regular season and will see their first MAC Commonwealth opponent this coming Wednesday.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Connor Heisman scores seven and sets a new season high.
• Matt Buckley and Heisman each dish out three assists.
• Pride outshoot the Knights 30-27 in shots on goal.
• In the cage, Keegan Billie earns 19 saves.

HOW IT HAPPENED IN QUICK STADIUM
 
In a cold rainy Saturday game, the Pride opened slow but the shots kept coming. Within the first five minutes, the Pride rain five shots on the Knights defense. In a man up opportunity, Heisman got the Pride on the board with 9:47 on the clock. Heisman's goal sent the team on a 4-0 scoring run. After a few turnovers Heisman found the back of the cage once again, this time with a ball from Nick DiCicco to tie the game at two. As the clock ticked under four in the first, four shots from Heisman, DiCicco, Buckley, and Bryant Maits were rattled off. Finally, Heisman grabbed a ground ball off Maits' shot to put it right back in for his third goal with 3:37 remaining. A Buckley goal would extend the lead to two and shortly after a Samuel Haverstrom ground ball turned into a goal with 1:35 remaining. After 15 minutes of play, the Pride would lead 5-2.
 
To open the second quarter the Pride saw a ground ball pickup from defenseman Venit which turned into a successful clear and a shot. After a wide shot from Venit, Haverstrom scored on a man-up opportunity from a Nicholad Knepp pass. A save by Billie force the Knights to call timeout with just under 10 minutes on the clock. The next five minutes became scoreless until Buckley turned a failed Knights clear into a goal to make the score 7-3. With 4:09 on the board, the Pride call timeout to draw up a play. Right out of the timeout, Heisman hit a shot to make the score 8-4 with a Buckley assist. With under five minutes Billie registered another save to turn a successful defensive string into a successful clear and a Knepp goal to end the half. At the half, the Blue and Gold would lead 9-4.
 
Both teams opened the third with shots that were either saved or wide. Heisman broke the five-minute drought with a another save from Billie that turned into an offensive run. A Knights turnover caused by Venit sent the Pride racing down the field to score once again from Heisman from the Buckley combo. A goal from Sam Heister with 5:32 on the board made the score 12-5 in favor of the Pride. The scoring would end with another Pride goal from Haverstrom and an assist credited to former Knight's player Wesley Sporer.
 
The Pride would open the fourth quarter with a 13-6 advantage and look to add to the lead. Opening the Pride scoring was Haverstrom with a ball from Jimmy Knepp with 11:13 remaining in the game. The score was 14-6. As the Pride struggled on faceoffs the Knights looked to capitalize but were unable to do so with a strong defensive showing. A turnover from Knights' Justin Chinici gave Venit another ground ball and sent the team up field to allow Venit to score his first goal of the season to extend the lead to 15-7. Another faceoff violation forced Arcadia to call timeout with just under eight remaining. An offsides penalty allowed the Knights to score on a man up opportunity to close the gap but not before the Pride add two more from Sporer and Heisman to end the game with a 17-8 victory. On the day, the Blue and Gold shot 55 total shots, grabbed 27 ground balls, and defensively killed 10 of 12 extra man opportunities.
 
UP NEXT
Widener remains home for their game on Wednesday, March 29 as they face the 6-3 Lebanon Valley Dutchmen in their first MAC Commonwealth contest. Faceoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.