The Griffin lacrosse team closed out the regular season with a road matchup at Walsh on Saturday afternoon with second place in the Great Midwest Conference on the line.
Seton Hill jumped out to a 12-4 halftime lead and cruised to a 14-8 victory over the Cavaliers to clinch second place and a home game in the tournament semifinals. SHU closes the regular season with a 10-1 record and a 5-1 mark in league play. Walsh drops to 5-7 overall and 4-2 in league play.
Walsh scored the first goal of the game, less than two minutes in as they took an early lead. The Griffins then responded with five straight goals to take a 5-1 lead with 2:16 to play in the quarter.
Ryan Manbeck scored the first and last goals of the run.
McGarity Harper,
Peyton Gensler and
Thomas Hanulak scored the other three goals in the run. Walsh scored a goal before
Dan Rupert closed out the first quarter scoring with a goal with 10 seconds to play. SHU took a 6-2 lead into the second quarter.
Harper opened the scoring at the 10:33 mark of the second quarter to give SHU a 7-2 lead. Gensler answered a Cavalier goal to put SHU in front 8-3 midway through the quarter. Hanulak and Manbeck scored 17 seconds apart to push the Griffins lead to 10-3.
Jeremy Sforzo and
Tyler Zameroski then scored 16 seconds apart right before the half as the Griffins took a 12-4 lead into the halftime break.
Walsh scored the lone goal of the third quarter as the Griffins led 12-5 after three quarters of play.
Gensler and Manbeck scored the final two goals for the Griffins in the fourth quarter as they were able to lock up a home playoff game.
SHU out shot the Cavs by a 47-35 margin. The Griffins won 19 of the 26 faceoffs in the contest.
Gensler led the offense with five points on three goals and two assists. Manbeck finished with four goals. Hanulak and Harper each finished with two goals. Rupert had a goal and an assist.
Kevin Mo maded five saves in cage for the win.
The Griffins will host the Cavaliers on Wednesday at 11 AM in the G-MAC Semifinal.
