The Bison men’s lacrosse team secured a victory over Sacred Heart in their home opener on Feb. 15,  improving to 3-0 on the season.

Attacker Tommy Sopko ’21 led the Orange and the Blue offense with a career-high eight points. Sopko logged four goals and four assists. The Bison were strong out of the gates, scoring eight goals in the first half to put them up against the Pioneers.

The Orange and Blue scored three goals early in the second half, two coming from attacker Will Yorke ’20. Attacker Alston Tarry ’22 also added a goal and assist during this span.

Yorke netted four goals on the day, three of which came in the second half. Tarry also made strong contributions to the Bison offensive effort, scoring two goals and adding four assists. Midfielder Matthew Barkauskas ’22 also posted one goal for the Bison.

In the middle of the third quarter, however, the Pioneers cut the Bison’s lead to two, scoring four unanswered goals. The Orange and Blue quickly bounced back, scoring three goals between the end of the third quarter and the beginning of the fourth quarter. This gave the Bison a five-goal advantage going into the final stretch of the game.

For the final 11 minutes of the game, both offenses were held scoreless with Ben Clark ’21 leading the defensive effort for the Bison. Clark finished with a total of 17 saves, almost matching his 18-save performance last weekend at Bryant.

Defenders Bryant Boswell ’21, Travis Talarico ’22 and midfielder Hunter Newman ’20 all posted strong performances in the Bison win. Boswell caused five turnovers, Talarico caused four and Newman caused three. Newman also collected four ground balls. In addition to his scoring efforts, Yorke collected seven ground balls.

Nick Crovatto ’22 went 17-for-29 in faceoffs, as well as collected 11 ground balls.

The Bison had a slight advantage in shots, outlasting the Pioneers 56-43. Harry Wellford ’23 took 13 shots, two short of the University record, and Sopko recorded 12 shots. The Orange and Blue led the Pioneers in shots on goal and grounds balls as well.

“Sacred Heart was a great team win, and we are all happy to get to 3-0. We learned a lot about ourselves as a team and we know what we need to improve on going forward. As for Ohio State, in our mind it’s an awesome opportunity to beat a great team and get to 4-0,” Sopko said.

The Bison are now 3-0 and will face Ohio State on Feb. 22 at home.