BELMONT, N.C. – 11 second-half goals by the Newberry men's lacrosse team sent them home with a second straight win to start the season on Saturday evening at Belmont Abbey. The defending Conference Carolinas champions, the Crusaders were ranked No. 13 in the USA Lacrosse Magazine Preseason Poll, and No. 16 in the USILA Preseason Poll, giving the Wolves – who were No. 18 in the USA Lacrosse Magazine Preseason Poll – a huge victory early in the season.

Down two at the start of the third quarter, Baker Westmoreland (Charlotte, N.C.) scored on a pass from Zach Thompson (Ottawa, Ontario Canada) to bring Newberry within a goal. Three Crusader goals brought their lead quickly back up to four, but the resilient Wolves scored five of the last six goals of the quarter to tie the game heading into the fourth. Two of those five goals came from Scott Reed (Ontario, Canada), while Curtis Bukta (Ontario, Canada), James Osorio (Ronkonkoma, N.Y.) and Connor Bates (Boiling Springs, S.C.) each found the back of the net.

With the score even at 11 to start the final quarter, Reed scored the fifth of his team-leading six goals on the night to put the Wolves up one, soon followed by Adrian Channell's (Ontario, Canada) first goal of 2023 to extend the Newberry advantage to two, 13-11, with about 13 minutes left on the clock.

Belmont Abbey (1-1, 0-0 Conference Carolinas) responded with two goals of its own to tie the game once more, but an unassisted Bukta goal put Newberry ahead for good with just over eight minutes to play. A mere seven seconds later, Owen Harrison (Apex, N.C.) found Bates for his second goal of the game and season, putting the Wolves back up by two, 15-13.

The Crusaders scored with 4:30 to play to cut the Wolves' advantage back down to one, but Reed's sixth goal – already his 11th of the young season – capped the scoring for the Wolves at 16. That was just enough as the Crusaders scored one final goal with 56 seconds remaining, but the Newberry defense held strong the remainder of regulation to ensure victory.

The game was similarly competitive in the first half as the Wolves led 3-2 after one quarter, while the Crusaders used five second quarter goals to go into halftime up 7-5.

In all, Bukta had three goals on the night; Osorio and Bates had two; and Channell, Thompson and Westmoreland had one apiece to go along with Reed's six. As a team, the Wolves battled to secure 24 ground balls, and won 17 of 32 faceoffs.

Mikey Sweigart and Matthew Wyatt both scored four goals to lead the way for Belmont Abbey.

The Wolves will make the trip down to Jacksonville, Florida, for a neutral site date with the Fighting Knights of Lynn University next Saturday. Faceoff is set for noon.