READING, Pa. – Junior Timothy Kaiser III scored three goals to lead the Centenary University men's lacrosse team in a 12-5 loss at Alvernia University in the season opener on Saturday. Senior Chris Howell broke the Centenary career ground balls record in the game.
The Golden Wolves scored the game's first goal at 3:44 of the first period.
Just 14 seconds later, Howell tied the game up with an unassisted tally.
Kaiser III gave Centenary a 2-1 lead with a man-up goal at 2:01 of the period. Senior Noah Jones picked up the assist on Kaiser III's goal.
Keith Lake scored with 46 seconds on the clock for Alvernia and the two teams ended the first period tied at 2-2.
Freshman Zeke Giorlando struck for his first collegiate goal at 14:37 of the second quarter. Giorlando's goal was assisted by fellow freshman Jason Toledo and gave the Cyclones a 3-2 advantage.
Goals from Sam St. Croix and Zach Bowman in the final 5:30 of the second period gave Alvernia a 4-3 lead at the half.
Kaiser III scored the first goal of the third quarter for the Cyclones. His second score of the day came off a pass from Toledo and allowed Centenary to tie the game at 4-4 with 12:55 remaining in the third.
St. Croix scored at the 6:48 mark of the third quarter and put the home team back on top, 5-4. That goal started an 8-0 run that bridged the third and fourth quarters and gave Alvernia a 12-4 lead with 1:30 to go in the game. St. Croix scored six times in that run.
Kaiser III's third goal of the game and second man-up goal of the contest, capped the scoring with 21 seconds to go. Alvernia claimed the 12-5 victory.
Kaiser III added four ground balls to go along with his three goals for the Cyclones. Howell and Toledo each registered two points in the game. Howell's came via a goal and an assist while Toledo had a pair of helpers. Freshman JT Doyle made 13 saves in his first appearance for the Cyclones.
Howell was effective from the faceoff 'X' in the game as he won 17-of-19 and recorded 16 ground balls. Howell's first faceoff win of the game gave him 500 for his career. He also broke the Centenary record for career ground balls in the contest as his 16 gave him 337, which breaks Mike D'Amico's (1999-01) record of 333.
St. Croix led Alvernia with seven goals and four ground balls.
Centenary will be back in action on Wednesday, Feb. 26 when the Cyclones host Farmingdale State at 4 p.m.
