NEWBERRY – In the home-opener at Setzler Field on Saturday evening, the Newberry College men's lacrosse team continued their winning ways with an 18-8 victory over Belmont Abbey to move to 4-0.

Baker Westmoreland had a career-night for the Wolves, scoring a career-best six goals on six shots while also picking up a ground ball.

Scott Reed and Curtis Bukta each recorded three goals, and Jimmy Osorio and Zach Thompson netted two apiece. Adrian Channell and Miles Jones both added a goal for Newberry.

Defensively, Jack Travassos caused a pair of turnovers and picked up three ground balls. Connor Bates, Owen Harrison and Brock Strong all had four ground balls to lead the team.

Though Belmont Abbey (1-3) struck first, Reed scored the first of the night for the Wolves 1 minute and 20 seconds in, and Thompson sandwiched goals around Bukta and Westmoreland for a 5-2 Newberry lead 10 minutes into the first quarter.

A man-up goal from the Crusaders made it 5-3 heading into the second. In that second quarter, Reed found the back of the net for the second time at the 14:10 mark. Bukta's second came with the Wolves down a man before Reed and Westmoreland both scored again to push the Wolves' lead to 9-3 with five minutes remaining in the opening half.

Jimmy Osorio added a man-up goal with 50 seconds to go in response to Belmont Abbey's fourth of the night for a 10-4 Newberry halftime lead.

Bukta broke the ice only 35 seconds into the second half. The Crusaders scored a pair to make it 11-6 but Ethan Canning found Osorio in deep for a 12-6 margin. Westmoreland tallied his third goal with 3:39 to go in the third and the Wolves eventually took a 13-8 lead into the last.

Channell fired one home to get the fourth-quarter scoring underway followed by Jones' goal off a feed from Reed. Soon after, Westmoreland capped the game with a trio of goals 1 minute and 48 seconds apart – two of which came on the man advantage and both were assisted by Bukta who led the team with four on the night.

Newberry outshot Belmont Abbey 46-35 including a 28-20 advantage in shots on goal. The Wolves grabbed 38 ground balls to the Crusaders' 21 and they converted on all of their man-up opportunities.

Newberry plays another home game next Saturday (March 2) versus South Atlantic Conference foe Tusculum. Faceoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. at Setzler Field.