GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Alex Strain (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper Saint Clair) scored a career-high nine goals in a narrow 17-16 road loss at Thiel College in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game Saturday afternoon. 

W&J fell behind 5-2 in the early stages of the second quarter before scoring six unanswered goals to close the first half with an 8-5 advantage. Strain accounted for four of the six goals during the spurt.

The Tomcats rallied out of the halftime break to outscore W&J by an 8-3 margin in the third quarter. Back-to-back goals by Zach Melin gave Thiel a 13-11 lead into the fourth. Back-to-back goals by Strain and Sean McCaffrey (Silver Spring, Md./Albert Einstein) evened the score at 13-13 with 12:56 to play. The Tomcats answered with three consecutive goals over the next five-plus minutes to take a 16-13 lead at the 6:52 mark. 

Strain and McCaffrey accounted for the final three goals for the Presidents. The last of which by Strain pulled W&J within one (17-16) with 1:06 remaining. 

Strain posted his first career 10-point effort with nine goals and one assist. McCaffey registered a hat trick while Carter Watts (Gilbertsville, Pa. / Boyertown) finished with two goals and four assists. Ronin Keane (Medford, Mass. / Arlington Catholic) and James Deiuliis (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Upper Saint Clair) tallied a goal apiece. 

Defensively, Nathan Petrarco (North Huntingdon, Pa./Norwin) finished with a team-best nine ground balls while Keane added seven. Keane won 20-of-37 face-off attempts. 

Henry Beardwood (Wilmington, Del. / Salesianum School) made 13 saves in 60 minutes in net.

Pat Hartnett paced Thiel's offensive efforts with five goals and six assists in the victory.

W&J travels to PAC leader Grove City on Tuesday, April 26. Start time is 7 p.m.