Plum grad Nick Hubner helps Westminster lacrosse reach PAC playoffs
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When Anthony Accardi was hired last August as the men’s lacrosse coach at Westminster College, it was a clean slate for the returning players in terms of opportunity to get on the field and contribute to team success.
Nick Hubner took that to heart.
The Plum graduate, a 6-foot-5, 220-pound senior attacker for the Titans, has broken out in his final collegiate season and leads the offense for a team which was 9-6 overall and 5-2 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference after a 17-6 conference win over Chatham on April 25.
“That was a huge win for our program, and it allowed us to finish conference play on a really high note,” said Hubner, who scored three goals and added an assist in the win to give him a PAC-best 52 goals, along with eight assists through 15 games.
“We had a lot of pressure going into the game knowing that it could’ve been the end of our season. We all had to be in the right mindset to push hard and play the best lacrosse we could. I think we started clicking to our maximum potential that game. That gave us a lot of confidence going into the PAC playoffs.”
Westminster was to begin the PAC playoffs with a first-round game that was to be played past the deadline for this week’s edition.
Hubner came into this season with 26 career goals in 22 games (three starts) with the Titans.
“For this season, I knew I had to work on my lacrosse IQ,” Hubner said. “I think a big part of the game was watching the higher-level D-I players and teams play, the decisions they made, and applying it to my game.
“It was a good feeling to know that with the new coach coming in that I had the chance to show what I could do and get on the field more if I performed the way I knew I could.”
Hubner’s season started out hit-and-miss as he had just one goal over the first three games, a single tally in a season-opening 12-10 loss to Wooster.
Westminster started out 0-3.
But Hubner’s fortunes, and also the fortunes of the team, took a turn for the better in the fourth game, a nonconference matchup with Mt. Union.
He scored a team-best six goals on eight shots as Westminster topped the Purple Raiders, 11-8.
“Nick didn’t get as many opportunities his first three years as he would’ve liked, but he got a fair chance to show what he could do, like all the players did, and he just ran with it,” Accardi said.
“Actually, the first couple games, Nick got pulled a couple of times as we tried to mix a few things up to see what worked best. Since that Mt. Union game, he hasn’t looked back. He gave us no choice but to play him, and he’s taken off to where he is now.
“I talk to the team and to recruits all the time about someone who is not going to get down in the dumps when something doesn’t go your way but instead will continue to work hard and have a positive attitude about it. Nick never stopped working, and he proved he deserved to be out there. He never hung his head, and now he’s our leading scorer.”
April 15 was a special day for Hubner as the Titans hosted Thiel on senior day.
Westminster scored a 20-8 win, and Hubner scored a team-best seven goals to set the program’s single-season goals record.
He finished the day with 42 goals, surpassing the previous record of 39 set in 2017.
Hubner’s play has twice earned him PAC Offensive Player of the Week honors.
“It feels great to be recognized for what I am able to do on the field, but at the same time, it is not what I am striving to do,” he said.
“I am just hoping to play my best and contribute to team wins and help the younger guys the best I can on and off the field.”
Hubner followed up his record-setting seven goals against Thiel with seven more in Westminster’s 19-6 win at Bethany on April 22.
“Nick is just a physical matchup nightmare for a lot of opponents,” Accardi said,
“He knows he’s going to see a lot of double teams because of his size and his scoring ability. He’s just been playing really smart lacrosse, and that has helped the team as a whole play really well and play probably our best offense of the season.”
Hubner, a business administration/marketing major, came to Westminster after earning three letters for the Plum boys lacrosse team.
A team captain his senior year, Hubner graduated as the leading goal scorer and point scorer in program history.