CHESTER, Pa. – Keegan Billie's airmail highlights a snowy season opener against #15 Swarthmore.
 
The 13-6 final score opens the season at 0-1.
 
BY THE NUMBERS

• The Pride offense saw goals from Keegan Billie, Samuel Haverstrom, Matt Horgan, Nicholas Knepp, Bryant Maits, and Matt Ellison.
• In the cage, Billie would register 15 sales in his 60 minutes of play.
• The Pride defense would force 12 turnovers with three being from Billie and Chris Covington.
• On the attack side, the Pride took 27 shots with 19 on net.
• The team would see 20-of-27 clears.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• A slow start from both sides would begin the battle on Hirschmann Field. Ellison and Haverstrom would rip off two quick shots before turning to the defensive side. Billie went on to keep the attacking Garnet scoreless and a turnover caused by Billie at 5:53 would help the Pride take an early 1-0 lead. Ellison would rip a shot from Tyler Eahart at 5:09 to find the back of the cage. The Garnet would go on to tie the game at one at 1:25.
• Shots would be rattled off by Luke Shimko, Haverstrom, and Sean Alminde early in the second but would all be left empty handed. The Garnet would find an offense rhythm with a 4-0 goal run for the majority of the second. Knepp would put the Pride on the board for the second quarter with 29 second remaining after a strategically called Widener timeout. The score at half was 5-2.
• Out of halftime Billie would airmail a ball into the back of the Garnet cage for a 30+ yard goal that answer an early Garnet goal. The score was 6-3. On the defensive, Damian Bird forced a turnover to allow a good Widener transition and a Maits goal on a Haverstrom ball in. The score was 9-4 at 6:50. Billie went on the keep the attacking Garnet out of the Blue and Gold cage as he would end the quarter with a quick save.
• With 15 minutes of play remaining, the Pride began their comeback attack. A 13:42 timeout from Coach Chambers would send an attacking play to the Garnet cage that resulted in a Haverstrom man-up goal with a Matt Horgan assist. A faceoff violation from the Garnet would allow Horgan to find the back of the cage at 11:40 to make the score 9-6. The Pride defense began to tire as the fast-paced Garnet went on to score four goals to end the game with a 13-6 win in the season opener.

 
UP NEXT
Widener returns to Quick Stadium on Saturday, Feb. 22 to face 0-1 (0-0 ODAC) Shenandoah Hornets. Faceoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.