Huntingdon men’s lacrosse earns second win of the season

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – The offense wasn't as crisp as head coach Andrew Carey wanted to see on Friday, but the first-year Huntingdon men's lacrosse team picked up its second win in four games.

The Hawks scored five goals in the first half and seven goals in the second half to take a 12-4 win over Alma College.

"Our defense played great today," Carey said. "We applied pressure and were able to impose our will in that side of the ball. But we've still got some work to do offensively. We've got some areas we have to clean up and we have to start running our offense more effectively.

"Overall, we've got some work to do, but a win is a win."

As a team, Huntingdon (2-2) took 66 total shots and 31 shots on goal. Alma (0-4) was held to 16 shots for the game. But the Hawks did turn the ball over 40 times.

"Offensively, we ran hard, but our skills were not as sharp as we needed them to be and we've got to clean up our turnovers," Carey said. "It was good to see us generate 66 shots. You don't see many games where you can do that, but we've got to be able to put more of those shots in the back of the net.

"Alma's goalie (Daric Mueller) definitely made it a game with the way he played."

Mueller gave up 12 goals but also recorded 19 saves. Huntingdon goalie Spencer Nix finished with seven saves.

Huntingdon jumped out to a 6-1 lead on three goals from Brandon Sewell and a goal apiece from Ryan Rees, Tyler Campbell and Gavin Carey. When Alma (0-4) cut it to 6-3 in the second half, the Hawks answered with seven goals in the final 17 minutes to close out the win.

Sewell led Huntingdon with five goals, two assists, eight ground balls and was 14-for-16 on faceoffs. Rees scored twice, recorded 10 ground balls and was 3-for-3 on faceoffs and Michael Brunick added two goals.

Gavin Carey scored once, had an assist and six ground balls, Mickey Reville scored once and Steven Gernatt had an assist and seven ground balls.

Xavier Singleton (five), Tyler Cross (four) and Alex Taylor (three) combined to force 12 turnovers. Taylor also had six ground balls.

"Alex Taylor got the game ball today," Carey said. "He ran well, put pressure on his man, caused several turnovers and came up with six huge ground balls. Alex left it all on the field today."

The Hawks return to action at Samford Stadium on Sunday. Huntingdon plays Rhodes College at 1 p.m.