GAMBIER, Ohio - Kenyon College men's lacrosse team picked up a crucial North Coast Athletic Conference (NCAC) win against Wittenberg University on Saturday. The Lords (7-4, 3-2 NCAC) logged a 17-13 victory over the visiting Tigers (4-7, 2-3 NCAC) and snared sole possession of fourth place in the conference standings.

Although the Lords still have three conference games ahead of them, the fourth-place position is significant because only the top four teams in the final conference standings earn spots in the NCAC postseason tournament.

Pierce Kraft, Jonah Florence and Nick Vitale led the Kenyon's offensive attack with four goals apiece. They also helped overwhelm the Wittenberg defense with a barrage of shots. In all, the Lords racked up 53 attempts on the Tigers' frame, 34 of them on goal. Kenyon out-hustled Wittenberg for extra possessions as well, securing 45 ground balls to Wittenberg's 27 and winning 24-of-33 face-offs.

Florence drew first blood in the match, finding the back of the net off an assist from Vitale five minutes into the first quarter. The Tigers responded with three quick goals, and Kenyon Head Coach Doug Misarti called a timeout with 4:37 remaining in the first quarter.

After the timeout, the Lords swung the game back in their favor with a 7-0 run. As part of the run, Vitale hit a hot streak and rattled off three goals in a row. By halftime, the Lords held a 10-5 lead.



Wittenberg struck back at the beginning of the second half. Within the first 30 seconds of the third quarter, Matthew Welch and Noah Moderwell notched a goal apiece to cut Kenyon's lead to three.

 Again, Misarti called a timeout to gather his troops and again they responded. This time it was Florence who scored twice. Vitale tacked on another and the Lords built their lead to 13-7 with about ten minutes left in the quarter.

The final quarter opened with another quick run from the Tigers. Jack Strahm scored twice in two minutes to cut Kenyon's lead to 15-11. The Lords, however, slowed the pace of the game enough to keep the Tigers at bay. Kraft accounted for Kenyon's only two goals of the period, but that's all the Lords needed to secure the victory.

Strahm ended up scoring four times to lead the Tigers, while Lucas Klever added three. Starting goalie Colin Cahill made 13 saves for Wittenberg, but was pulled early in the second half.

At the other end of the turf, Kenyon's starting goalie, freshman Nick Connelly made eight saves to earn the win and run his personal record to 5-3.   

Kenyon will remain on campus for its next game, an April 11 contest against Oberlin College (5-6, 0-4 NCAC).