Balanced Offense, Stout Defense Give Men's Lacrosse Home Win Over Walsh

FROSTBURG, Md. – The Frostburg State Men's Lacrosse team took down Walsh 13-5 inside Bobcat Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. 
 
FSU began the game by taking the opening face-off and controlled the early action with three shots inside the first two minutes, before graduate Justin Hulse fed senior Tyler Dooley to get the scoring started. Within the next minute, freshman Luke Roach ripped a shot from distance for a 2-0 lead with just under three minutes gone. The Cavaliers got their first shot of the game after causing a Bobcat turnover, but junior Nate Jones stool tall in net to keep them off the board. A minute later, senior Austin Sipes found a cutting Chase Buckwalter, who spun and fired into the back of the net to go up 3-0. Jones made another pair of saves over the next four minutes, including one on a man down opportunity that would end up with graduate Bubba Love passing across the crease to senior Brady Crumbacker for a 4-0 advantage. Junior Seamus Kearney caused a turnover that helped fend off another man-down period, then in the final minute Love scored on a feed from Sipes to end the first up 5-0.
 
Defense was the name of the game to begin the second, as it took five minutes to get the first goal in, which came from Walsh to put the score at 5-1. Graduate Owen McCallum quickly got FSU back in control, scoring a pair of solo goals two minutes apart to get back up 7-1. WU's keeper made back-to-back saves to keep Frostburg from adding to their lead, then took advantage of a man-up opportunity to make the score 7-2. Jones prevented Walsh from cutting more into the lead, making a pair of saves in the final 40 seconds to head into the half up by five.
 
Coming out of the half, a misplaced Cavalier pass led to the Bobcats opening the scoring through a Hulse goal. Three and a half minutes in, Jones picked up another stop, leading to Dooley finding McCallum for his hat trick up 9-2. Sipes nearly added to his total but saw his shot come back off the post, with WU taking the ball down the other end and finding the back of the net to pull within six. On in place of Jones, freshman Lukasz Barmosz picked up his first save with just over seven minutes left in the frame, then two minutes later Sipes was found by McCallum for another Frostburg goal. The teams traded over the next minute, with the Cavaliers scoring on a man-up chance and Love calling his own number to make it 11-4. With a minute and a half left on the clock, Walsh ended the quarter with their third score of the period at 11-5.
 
Less than a minute into the fourth, a face-off violation gave FSU the ball, which found its way from Love to Buckwalter for a 12-5 lead. Another Cavalier turnover allowed Sipes to power in a goal, which ended up being the final score of the contest. Thanks to some stout Bobcat defense, WU was held to just two shots the rest of the way, as the first was saved by Barmosz and the second sailed wide, ending the game 13-5 in favor of Frostburg.
 
In a balanced Bobcat effort, Sipes, Love, and McCallum all recorded four points apiece, with the former two putting up a pair of goals and assists and the latter scoring a game-high three goals. Defensively, Kearney picked up a pair of caused turnovers and six groundballs, while Love was just behind with six. Junior Alex Walstrum was nearly perfect in the face-off circle, winning 11-of-12 while nabbing a game-high nine groundballs.
 
With the win, Frostburg improves to 2-1 on the year, while Walsh drops to 0-4. FSU hits the road for the first time this season as they travel to Malone on Saturday, March 9 for a 1 p.m. game. Information and updates will be posted to frostburgsports.com.