#3 Pace Pulls Away from Men’s Lax in Second Half for 17-9 Win

When and Where: March 17, 2018 – Pleasantville, N.Y. (Pace Stadium)
Score: Pace University 17, Southern New Hampshire University 9
Records: Pace 3-1 (2-0 NE10), SNHU 2-2 (0-1 NE10)

Senior Chris West (Albany, N.Y.) notched a career-best four points and classmate Michael Brawley (Tewksbury, Mass.) made a career-high 17 saves, but the Southern New Hampshire University men's lacrosse team was upended by third-ranked Pace University, 17-9, Saturday in its Northeast-10 opener at Pace Stadium.

West scored twice and handed out a pair of helpers. Seniors Mark Beirne (Hooksett, N.H.) and Corey Cairo (Shoreham, N.Y.) each scored two goals, while junior Tom Schutz (Trumbull, Conn.) dished a pair of assists. Senior Cam Rewucki (Dover, N.H.) also registered two points with a goal and an assist.

Pace scored the first three goals of the game over the opening 6:58 before Cairo found the back of the net at the 7:48 mark off a West assist to get on the board. The Setters responded with 7:06 to play in the first quarter before junior Andrew Liu (Piedmont, Calif.) capped the scoring just 15 seconds later to trim the Penmen deficit to 4-2 going to the second stanza.

Beirne pulled SNHU within 4-3 less than five minutes in, but Pace scored three of the next four goals to open a 7-4 advantage with 6:14 left before the break. Schutz set up a strike from freshman Cole Jacobsen (Dartmouth, Mass.) with 1:41 to go and then Rewucki made it 7-6 with just eight seconds on the clock to trim the halftime gap.

Pace stretched the lead to 9-6 to open the second half before West potted his second of the game at the 11:40 mark. Liam Brennan would score three times, however, as the Setters tallied the final four goals of the third quarter to extend the lead to 13-7.

Pace put it away with three goals to begin the fourth quarter, making it 16-7 less than five minutes in. Cairo scored off a pass from Schutz with 7:32 remaining, while West connected on a feed to Beirne 59 seconds later to make it a 16-9 game. Pace would cap the scoring at the 5:13 mark.

Notes:
- Pace captured 17 of the game's 30 faceoffs and held a 48-28 advantage in shots, including 15-6 in the third quarter.
- Brawley stopped 17 of the 33 shots he faced over the opening 59:26, while freshman Oscar Kozikowski (Portsmouth, N.H.) only saw one bid in the final 34 seconds. Pace goalie Robert Beshlian made 12 saves.

Up Next:
The Penmen are back in action Saturday, March 24 (1 p.m.) when they take on No. 8 Adelphi University. The next home game for SNHU is Tuesday, March 27 (7 p.m.) when it plays host to crosstown-rival and 17^th-ranked Saint Anselm College at Penmen Stadium.