GREENWOOD – Lander overcame a two-goal halftime deficit by outscoring Lincoln Memorial 12-2 in a dominant second half to eclipse the visitors 19-11 in Saturday afternoon's men's lacrosse contest.
Matt Duarte was simply sensational with a career-high seven goals in his second game donning the Blue and Gold as LU moved to 2-0.
Fellow newcomer – a freshman –
Cameron Festi made his presence felt in a four-goal performance, and senior
Michael Mattaliano also had a four-point day with three goals and an assist.
Four other Bearcats added one goal or more:
Josh Rosa (2),
Ryder Goodwin (1),
Sean Reilly (1) and
Carson Skinner (1).
Lincoln Memorial (1-1) held a slight 4-3 lead after a tightly-contested opening 15 minutes. The Railsplitters later pushed that margin to 8-5 midway through the second quarter.
Duarte's third score of the day made it 8-6 with 5:23 left in the half, and soon after, Reilly made it 9-7.
The 10-minute intermission to prepare for the final 30 minutes was evidently instrumental in the Bearcats' success: LU scored four straight goals over the first 6:30 of the third stanza to pull ahead 11-9.
Skinner, Duarte, Festi and Rosa were the quartet that gave the Bearcats a lead they wouldn't again give up; Rosa's strike was his first since transferring in from St. Bonaventure.
LMU pulled within one on the man-advantage but Lander added three more goals – another from Rosa and two more from Festi – before the end of the third and headed into the fourth with a 14-10 cushion.
LU scored five more goals in that final quarter to win convincingly. Goodwin's first Lander goal came with 5:38 to play before he added a helper on Duarte's seventh and final exclamation point with a minute to go.
The Bearcats certainly made the Railsplitters' Jayden Herman work today, peppering him with 51 shots in all and 31 on target.
Lander received some yeoman's work out of its own goalie,
Max Porterfield, who had 12 saves and a .522 save percentage (12/23). LU also won the face-off battle 20-14.
The Bearcats have a midweek road matchup with Emmanuel (Ga.) this Wednesday (Feb. 18) at 5 p.m. and will return to Van Taylor Stadium next Saturday (Feb. 21) to face former Peach Belt foe Young Harris at 1.
