In Saturday’s men’s lacrosse game, Jack Oppenheimer accomplished something he’s never done in his collegiate career and that no other Quinnipiac player has done since 2002.
He earned seven points in an 18-9 victory over intrastate rival Sacred Heart University on Senior Day.
Oppenheimer compiled five goals and two assists for his seven points, the most from a QU player in 11 years. Meanwhile, the victory clinched the No. 2 seed for the Bobcats (5-6, 3-1 NEC) in the NEC tournament.
“It’s Senior Day, it’s a little emotional, and I figured I had to put on a good performance for my parents and grandparents,” Oppenheimer said. “Right off the first shot I took, it went in, and right from there I was feeling it and knew that anything I shot was most likely going in.”
Oppenheimer scored his first four goals within the first 21 minutes, which was part of an 8-1 run the Bobcats went on to open the game.
Sacred Heart’s Bailey Dodds broke up QU’s opening run with a goal to narrow the score to 8-2, but the Bobcats responded with a 5-0 run to close out the first half.
Oppenheimer picked up his two assists on the last two goals of the half, finding fellow senior Billy Alessi and freshman Dylan Webster, who both had three goals in the game.
Oppenheimer opened the second half with his fifth goal of the game and Webster put the Bobcats up 16-2 at the 7:54 in the third quarter, marking their largest lead of the game.
Sacred Heart (4-8, 1-3) went on a 6-0 run to pull within seven points of Quinnipiac, but it was as close as they would get as Quinnipiac cruised to an 18-9 victory.
Senior goaltender Kevin Benzing finished the game with 10 saves, including his 500th career save.
Quinnipiac honored the founding lacrosse team of the 1990-1991 season during halftime.
Oppenheimer, Benzing and Alessi were honored before the game along with the eight other seniors for the Senior Day ceremonies.
“[The seniors] have qualified for the playoffs every year that they’ve been here,” Quinnipiac head coach Eric Fekete said.
“That’s really the goal every season, to be 100 percent your four years and making the playoffs every year. It’s a special group and we’re going to ride this wave as long as we can. We want to win this league and I think we’re pretty focused right now.”
Photo courtesy of Quinnipiac Athletics
