Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
COLORADO SPRINGS, CO – The Whittier College men's lacrosse team ended their 2015 regular season Saturday as they rolled past Southwestern 21-4 to move back to .500 at 6-6.
The Poets defensive unit stood strong as they held SU to just one goal in the first half, while totaling eight themselves. Southwestern tied things up at 1-1 at the 9:59 mark in the first quarter but the Purple & Gold would add the next seven, which included the lone tally in the second frame.
The Pirates would finally stop the run at the start of the third with an unassisted goal from Dakota Butler but Whittier would close out the stanza on an 8-1 run, which included a last second goal from Scott Pescheret (Eagan, MN) off a faceoff that gave them a 16-3 lead.
In the fourth, Sean Sternberg (Bellevue, WA) would add back to back scores to open up the period and Luke Boardman (Denver, CO) and Maxwell Jones (Fircrest, WA) would put on the finishing touches that propelled the Poets to the lopsided victory.
Matt Symes (Coquitlam, BC, Canada) and Jonathan Kassity (San Clemente, Calif.) each recorded four goals, with Sternberg finishing with three. Nick Hernandez (La Mesa, Calif.) had two goals and an assist, while Jones had a score and a career high seven assists.
Pescheret picked up a game high seven groundballs winning 17-21 faceoffs, while Kassity and Max Thiele (San Diego, Calif.) caused two turnovers each.
Whittier awaits the draw for the NCAA Division III National Championships. The selection show will occur tonight and the Poets hope to return to the dance.
