College Men’s Lacrosse Final: Guilford 11, Piedmont 10

DEMOREST, Ga. – Guilford College’s Derek Zacatenco and Bailey Benjamin tallied three goals apiece to lead the Quakers to a close 11-10 victory over Piedmont College Saturday afternoon.

Guilford (2-0) jumped out to an early lead on tallies from Bryce Craig and Zacatenco. Piedmont (1-1) responded however to keep the game knotted at 3-3 through the first quarter of play.

The Quakers took advantage of several Lions’ penalties to score four man-up goals in the second quarter before Piedmont’s Avery Jenks and Chase Goff cut the deficit to two goals at the half.

Both teams traded tallies in the third frame with the Lions tying things up at 8-8 on a goal from Goff. Guilford finished the quarter with a two-goal spurt to gain a 10-8 advantage heading into the final 15 minutes of regulation.

Piedmont struck first in the final quarter to make the score 10-9 but Zacatenco netted his third goal of the contest to bring the Quakers’ lead back to two.

The Lions attempted a late rally when Jeremy Kohn found the back of the net with 1:56 left on the clock but Guilford’s defense stood strong to secure the 11-10 victory.

For the Quakers, Brennan Sweeney notched seven points on one goal and six assists. Rookie Brian Windisch finished with two tallies, the first of his collegiate career. In net, Jack Rogers improved to 2-0 with 14 saves.

Jenks and Kohn paced the Lions with four goals each while Goff rounded the scoring out with two. Zach Czulada recorded 18 saves for Piedmont.

Coach Mark Crisco’s Quakers travel to nearby Greensboro College for a 3 p.m. nonconference contest Wednesday (2/19).