Matteo nets four in Kenyon win at Centre

DANVILLE, Ky. — The Kenyon College men’s lacrosse team got four second-half goals from senior Mike Matteo on Sunday afternoon and rallied to post a 12-7 victory over the host Centre College Colonels.

The Lords (4-1) jumped out to a quick start, netting the game’s first goal within nine seconds. The opening face-off was won by Kenyon first-year Thomas Nelson, who scooped up the ground ball and dished to classmate Cameron Longway. Longway then fired home a goal that gave the Lords a quick 1-0 edge. The goal was Longway’s only score of the game, but his seventh on the season.

Centre (2-3) then took charge, scoring the next three goals in less than a two-minute span. Three different Centre players scored in the burst, giving the Colonels a 3-1 advantage just five minutes from the start.

Without panic, the Lords responded during the last seven minutes of the quarter. In that time, Joe Boesel, Henry Willrich, Rollins Heath and Declan Curry all scored to push the Kenyon lead to 5-3 at the end of one period of play.

Senior Ethan Dewbrey assisted on the Lords’ final goal of the first quarter and then scored both Kenyon goals in the second quarter. His efforts, however, were matched by Centre, which also scored twice, moving the game to the midway point with Kenyon clinging to a 7-5 edge.

Both teams made the right adjustments, at least defensively, in the third quarter. During that 15-minutes of play, the only goal scored came from Matteo, who pushed the Kenyon lead to 8-5.

Centre then scored the first goal of the fourth quarter to pull within two once again, but Matteo never backed off. He scored three of the Lords’ final four goals to seal the road victory.

Matteo’s four-goal game bumped his season total to eight, which leads the team. Dewbrey matched Matteo’s four points by scoring twice and assisting twice. Curry, a senior, also had a big game for the Lords, scoring two goals and assisting on one other. 

Kenyon was outshot 37-32 throughout the game, but senior goalkeeper Mayo Amorello made 14 saves for the third consecutive contest. He now has 59 saves on the season to go along with a 6.89 goals against average and a .656 save percentage.

The Lords will return home and await competition from Adrian and Albion colleges on Wednesday and Saturday, respectively.