BUENA VISTA, Va. – First-year Matthew Ward registered six points and junior Paul Ruppert added a hat track as Frostburg collected a 21-16 road win over CAC foe Southern Virginia, Wednesday.
 
FSU improves to 8-6 overall and the win over the Knights (5-11, 0-5) is the first for the Bobcats in league play this year as they sit at 1-3.
 
The win also snaps a five-game losing skid for FSU as it poured in a season-high 21 goals. It marks the fourth time this spring that FSU has scored 15 or more in a game, while the previous season-high was 17 goals against McDaniel.
 
Frostburg outscored the host Knights in all but the fourth quarter and the Bobcats attempted almost 60 shots, holding a 58-51 lead, as FSU put 43 shots on cage. Frostburg also won 29 of 40 faceoffs, while its only blemish of the day was a 13-of-21 effort on clear attempts.
 
Ward finished the afternoon with four goals and two assists, while Ruppert scored three goals. Junior Michael Sipes and sophomore Jason Clinton each scored twice with one assist.
 
Clinton scored the first goal of the game just over five minutes into action and first-year Noah Roark later added two goals to help FSU to a 4-2 lead after the first 15 minutes.
 
Ward connected on three goals in the second quarter and assisted a Ruppert tally at 5:41 as FSU's lead swelled to 10-4 at intermission.
 
Sophomore Shawn Winans opened the second-half action with an unassisted tally just 15 seconds into the third frame. Moments later, junior Sam Natvig scooped up the faceoff and raced towards the SVU goal before scoring his first of the season that lifted the Bobcats to a 13-5 edge.
 
Frostburg closed the third quarter on a 3-1 scoring run for a 16-8 advantage after three quarters.
 
Senior Greg Giles scored his first goal of the season to open fourth quarter play as he was assisted by classmate Nick Mattis at 14:13.
 
Southern Virginia scored the game's next four goals that narrowed the score to 17-12, but Frostburg secured the win behind fourth quarter goals from Sipes and Ward along with scores from sophomore Jeffrey Stallings and first-year Nicholas Nordhausen.
 
Individually, Natvig won 16-of-19 faceoffs and posted a game-high 14 ground balls. Winans won 12-of-20 faceoffs and junior keeper Jack Marks needed just nine saves for the win.
 
The Knights were led in scoring by Shawn Lamb with six points on four goals and two assists.
 
The Bobcats return to action on Saturday at St. Mary's at 2:00 pm.