Jesuit Lacrosse Wins Big on Senior Night

It was a show of dueling offenses on Senior Night in Wheeling, WV, as the Cardinals of Wheeling Jesuit University defeated the Seton Hill Griffins 17-11 in the final contest of the season for both teams.  The Cardinals seniors were honored in a ceremony before the game.  This game was a rematch of the March 21st contest, which the Griffins won 11-10 in an overtime thriller.  Both teams will be joining the East Coast Conference (ECC) next year.

Cardinals Senior John Miller (Kent, OH) ended his career with a bang, providing both an offensive and emotional spark with five points on four goals and one assist.  Freshman Kyle Lucas (Dublin, OH) led the Cards with two goals and five assists for seven points, and Junior Jack Malone (Farmington Hills, MI) added to his team-leading point totals with three goals and three assists; Malone finished with 52 points on 20 goals and 32 assists, good for eleventh in the nation in total points and fourth in the nation in assists.  The Griffins were led by Junior Joel Zalesky’s seven points on two goals and five assists.  Senior Ben Petchel and Sophomore Justin Menefee each added three points on three goals and two goals and one assist, respectively.  Junior goalie Joe Sims (Dublin, OH) finish with 12 saves for the Cardinals, while Griffins Junior goalie Corey Struss had 9.

The game began with WJU peppering Struss with shots in close, but the Cardinals were unable to capitalize.  John Miller finally scored his first of the game on a man-up opportunity two-and-a-half minutes in.  Jeff Arneson (Wilmington, OH) scored unassisted seven minutes later to give the Cards a 2-0 lead, before Menefee cut the lead in half with an unassisted goal of his own.  Miller scored again on a feed from Junior John Dunbar (Eagan, MN) and Lucas picked up a garbage goal to finish the first quarter with a score of 4-1.

The second quarter saw the Griffins score two quick goals to close the gap to 4-3, before WJU’s offense explode for 6 unanswered goals.  Petchel then scored on a feed from Zalesky with just over a minute remaining in the frame to bring the score to 10-4 at halftime.

The Griffins came out firing in the second half, as Petchel netted his second of the day on another Zalesky feed just 25 seconds in.  Miller answered back, only to see Seton Hill score three straight before Arneson added his second of the day with two minutes left for a third quarter score of 12-8.

The final stanza saw the Cardinals start to put the game away, as Colin Jack (Pickerington, OH), Malone, and Dunbar all scored on feeds from Lucas.  The Griffins added three more and Cardinals Junior Eric Jenkins (Pleasanton, CA) put two in the cage before the final whistle ended the game with a score of 17-11.