ANGOLA, IND. -- Junior Justin Gearig (Vicksburg, Mich./Vicksburg) finished with an eight-point afternoon with a hat trick and five assists to help lead the Trine University men's lacrosse team to a 16-6 victory against Wabash College at Fred Zollner Athletic Stadium in Angola, Ind.
Gearig led all players with his eight points and was one of three Trine players to record at least a hat trick. Senior Neil Orr (Lombard, Ill./Montini Catholic) led all players in goals scored with four for four points. Senior Eric Peal (Imperial, Mo./Seckman) also recorded a hat trick with three goals on 10 shots for three points.
Sophomore Brandon Matuszczak (Hoffman Estates, Ill./William Fremd) and senior Conner Putman (Ridgefield, Conn./Ridgefield) both scored a pair of goals to round out the multi-goal effort. Putman also assisted on another goal to end the day with three points.
Sophomore Tyler Corless (St. Claire Shores, Mich./De La Salle) scored a goal and had two assists for three points. Sophomores Jarod Schepp (Oconomowoc, Wis./Kettle Moraine) had a goal scored and Brennan Battle (Lowell, Mich./Lowell) tallied an assist to round out the point scorers.
Junior Joseph Steigmeyer (Fort Wayne, Ind./Bishop Dwenger) started in net for Trine and played three out of the four quarters to get the win and allowed just five goals while making seven saves. Sophomore Anthony Marasco (Naperville, Ill./Nequa Valley) played the final quarter and tallied three saves while giving up just a lone goal.
Sophomore Dave Keptner (Midland, Mich./H.H. Dow) led the team in ground balls with 11 and junior Brent Farrugia (Clarkston, Mich./Clarkston) was second with nine ground balls.
Trine (4-1) scored the first four goals of the first quarter, including two in the opening three-and-a-half minutes. Matuszczak got the scoring going with a goal at the 13:31 mark and was followed by back-to-back goals by Peal with 11:36 and 4:37 remaining in the period. Orr tallied the final score of the frame for the Thunder, and his first of the contest, at the 3:27 mark that increased the Trine lead to 4-0. Wabash (3-5) got on the scoreboard just before the end of the quarter with a goal to make it a 4-1 game after the first 15 minutes.
The Thunder blew the game open in the second quarter with six total goals that included back-to-back scores by Putman to begin the scoring. Gearig tallied two of the next three scores for Trine, separated by a marker by Corless, that increased the margin to 9-1 in favor of the home team with 5:39 left in the half. The Little Giants ended the Trine scoring streak with a goal at the four-minute mark to make the score 9-2. But Matuszczak found the back of the net one final time for Trine to end the scoring in the half and extend the lead back out to eight goals, 10-2, at the break.
The offense continued in the third quarter as the two squads combined for nine goals with the Thunder tallying six of those goals. Within the first seven minutes, the teams struck for six of the nine goals with Trine netting the first two off the sticks of Schepp and Gearig. After a goal by Wabash, the Thunder rattled off four straight goals with another by Gearig and then the next three by Orr to make the score, 16-3. Wabash recorded the final scores of the period to get to within 11 goals, 16-5, heading into the final quarter.
Wabash tallied the only goal of the fourth quarter which came with a little under two minutes to go. But the Thunder already had the game well in hand and cruised to the 16-6 final.
Trine will travel to Milwaukee, Wis. for a matchup against the Milwaukee School of Engineering next Saturday, Mar. 30. The game is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. EST.
