Sipes, Buckwalter Lead Men's Lacrosse to First-Ever Win Over #14 Griffins

FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State men's lacrosse team defeated Seation Hill for the first time at home on Wednesday afternoon in a 17-9 win. 
 
Frostburg hosted a familiar opponent in the Griffins, a team they have faced in each of the past three seasons, in what turned into a sunny afternoon at Bobcat Stadium. The Bobcats wasted no time scoring the first goal seven seconds into the game, as senior Austin Sipes found the net after a faceoff win and assist by junior Alex Walstrum. Sipes helped add to the lead, assisting on the second goal for senior Tyler Dooley. The Griffins got on the board with 10 minutes left in the first to make the game 2-1 FSU. Senior Parker Masters answered shortly after, putting the Bobcats up 3-1, to which SHU scored once more to get within one. Sipes picked up his third point of the quarter on a crafty behind the back shot, finding the top corner of the net for a two-goal lead, but Seton Hill finished the first with two goals to even things up at 4-4 headed to the second. 
 
Beginning the next frame, again the Bobcats were first to score when graduate Justin Hulse found classmate Chase Buckwalter for his first goal of the game. After two straight goals from the Griffins gave them their first lead of the contest, the Bobcats responded with two of their own from Sipes and Buckwalter to retake the advantage at 7-6. Buckwalter then earned his hat trick to go up two, as graduate Bubba Love and freshman Luke Roach each earned their first tallies as part of a 5-0 FSU run to head into the half up 10-6. 

The Griffins hit the board first in the third quarter, scoring two minutes into play to get within three, but Love stretched the Bobcat lead back to four just over a minute later for his second of the day. SHU looked to be taking over the game's momentum with two straight goals at 11-9 until Buckwalter scored his fourth goal with just over a second left on the clock, ending a tightly-contested quarter with FSU up 12-9. 
 
FSU scored first in three of the four quarters after Sipes picked up his fourth of the game on a man-up opportunity to begin the final frame. After six minutes of scoreless play, with neither team able to trouble the other much offensively, graduate Own McCallum took advantage of another man-up situation, netting his first goal off a feed from freshman Henry Sykes. Shortly after, Sipes took the game to 15-9, then with six minutes remaining, Buckwalter scored on a turnaround jump shot, finding the bottom corner. The final goal of the game fittingly came from Sipes for his seventh point of the contest, with the Bobcats winning by a score of 17-9, shutting Seton Hill out in the final quarter.

Sipes finished with a game-high seven points on six goals and an assist, with Buckwalter just behind on five scores and a dime and Love adding a pair of goals and assists. Walstrum and graduate Jashane Uter combined to go 18-of-29 in the face-off circle with 19 groundballs between the pair. Junior Nate Jones was stout in net, earning the win with 13 saves on 22 shots on target. 
 
The win pushed the Bobcats record to 10-3 while Seton Hill goes to 8-5. FSU returns to play on Saturday, April 20, when they travel to D'Youville for a 1 p.m. contest. For more information visit frostburgsports.com.