Wooster Honors Seniors, Falls to Nazareth

TAMPA, Fla. – One of what very well could be the last collegiate lacrosse games played this spring was held on Saturday evening at the University of Tampa's Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex, and The College of Wooster men's lacrosse team fell 23-7 to Nazareth College.

Nazareth (5-2) dominated the early stages of the game, as the Golden Flyers opened with a 6-1 run before Wooster (2-4) found its footing near the end of the first period.

Sophomore David Fitzgerald spearheaded Wooster's strong closing stretch in the first stanza. The business economics and statistical and data sciences double-major reversed direction and neatly tucked his first goal of the season into the lower right corner.

Classmate Joe Citera caused a turnover not long after, and senior Cullen Kuhn went on to scoop up the ensuing groundball. Wooster eventually found itself in a two man-up situation, and junior Shaun Peirce fired in his second goal of the night, both of which were assisted on by Kuhn.

Nazareth's offensive firepower dominated the second-half storyline, with the Golden Flyers tacking on 15 second-half scores.

Wooster's bright spot came from Peirce, who netted two second-half goals, the second of which moved him into the Scots' all-time top-10 with 96.

Peirce had four of Wooster's seven goals. Kuhn finished with three assists and one goal, and he's at 64 goals and 57 assists. Senior Wesley Wagner tallied 16 saves and now has 623 for his career. Wagner scooped up five of Wooster's 19 groundballs, while first-year Ollie Jimba and sophomore Max Livingston had three each.

Kevin Hussey led Nazareth with five goals and two assists. Drew McNerney added four goals and three assists. Tim Vinton was 24-of-33 on faceoffs and finished with 10 groundballs, while Alex Winkler made 11 saves.

Nazareth outshot Wooster 62-36, logged 52 groundballs, and was 22-of-24 on clears.

Prior to the game, Wooster recognized its nine seniors – defender Caelan Doherty, defender Rob Driscoll, student assistant coach Nick Gargaro, faceoff specialist Rob Hunt, student assistant coach Connor Kalish, Kuhn, midfielder Cooper Pewitt, defender Noah Plotkin, and Wagner.