CHESTER, Pa. – Widener Men's Lacrosse downed Hood and celebrated the senior class in a windy afternoon on Hirschmann Field.
 
The 13-9 win moves the Pride to 4-8 in the regular season and 3-0 in MAC Commonwealth play.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• Wesley Sporer led the Pride with there goals and an assist on his seven shots.
• Four Pride players saw two goals.
• Chris Covington forced two turnovers on defense with a ground ball pickup.
• In the cage, Keegan Billie made 17 saves.
• The Pride out-shot the Blazers 45-41 and made 20 saves to their 16.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• The Pride opened the game with three quick shots to test the Blazers goalie. Sporer's next shot resulted in a tie game at 11:17. The Pride continued to pour on shots as Nick Brennan and Nicholas Knepp warmed up their shots. Sporer would give the Pride a lead with a goal at 7:55. The defense would do their job with a Billie save and a Covington turnover in the final seven minutes. With 2:17 left in the quarter, Colin Wingate found the net with the help from Jimmy Knepp. Less than 30 seconds later, Bryant Maits extended the lead with another goal. To head into the end of the quarter, Brennan capped off scoring for both sides with 41 seconds left to lead 5-2.
• Numerous ground ball pickups from the Pride would open the second as the Blazers held the attacking press. With 8:48 on the clock, N. Knepp answered a Blazers goal to keep the lead at three. Back-to-back Matt Horgan blocked shots would result in a Pride turnover. A Billie save helped the Pride transition into Brennan's second goal of the game. A quick Matthew Shingle faceoff win gave Matt Buckley a goal to force a Blazers timeout. Heading into halftime, the Pride led 8-3.
• Out of the locker rooms, the Pride struck quickly with a man-up Wingate goal to make the score 9-3. Both sides slowed with a long stretch of no scoring. The Pride defense continued to play strong as Billie added a handful saves. Turnovers in the attacking zone for the Blazers hurt their attacking press to allow shots to rattle off from Maits, Buckley, and Jacob Shannon. With 15 minutes of play remaining, the Blue and Gold held a 9-4 lead.
• Just two minutes into the final 15, Horgan's shots found the net to extend the lead to six. Shingle would win a faceoff to send Buckley scoring to split the Blazers' goals. Billie stood tall in the cage with three more saves to hold the Blazers at six. Maits would take a shot out of a timeout to double the score as Sporer fed him a pass. As time ticked under three minutes, the Pride defense bowed slightly before Sporer scored a man-down goal to end the day with a 13-9 win.

UP NEXT
Widener hits the road to Grantham, Pa. on Wednesday, April 13 to take on the 10-3 (3-0 MAC Commonwealth) Messiah Falcons in a 7 p.m. faceoff.