Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/30/14
It took the Cavaliers 29 seconds to build a lead it would not relinquish, as the Cabrini men’s lacrosse team topped Neumann University 25-7 Tuesday in the semifinal round of the Colonial States Athletic Conference. The Blue and White improved to 15-1 on the season and advanced to its 15th consecutive conference championship game.
Fourteen Cavaliers recorded at least one point in the win, led by juniors Damian Sobieski (Avon Grove) and Mike Leyden (Haverford High) who combined for 14 points. Sobieski paired five goals and three assists, while Leyden matched a career high with five goals.
Senior Corey Elmer added two goals and two helpers, one of five players with two goals on the night, including freshman Evan Downey, sophomore Cole Campbell and juniors Anthony DiNenno (Avon Grove) and Enrique Montoya.
DiNenno went 21-26 at the faceoff spot and scooped a career high 13 ground balls, while Leyden, fellow junior Antony DiSanzo and freshman goaltender Hank Altschuler (Lower Merion) secured four each. Altschuler also recorded a pair of saves to improve to 9-0 on the season. Fellow netminders Austin Marshall (Neshaminy) and Chris Treat (haverford High) also posted one save each in the victory.
After netting the Blue and White’s first goal, Sobieski added his second with just under nine minutes to play. The Knights got on the board midway through the opening period. Montoya and Sobieski added goals in a 31 second span, before Elmer’s first goal of the day gave Cabrini a 6-2 lead after 15 minutes.
The Cavaliers expanded their lead in the second quarter, as they outscored Neumann 7-2. Leyden led the way with a hat trick in a three minute span early in the period. Sobieski found sophomore Kevin MacQuilliam for a goal at the 1:50 mark of the period, sending Cabrini into the half with a 12-4 lead.
Cabrini removed any doubt of the outcome over the next 22 minutes of action, as it outscored the Knights 12-1, with nine different players found the back of the net. Leyden, Sobieki and Downey led the run with two goals each.
Junior Chris Scott (Marple Newtown) led the Knights (6-10) with three goals, while sophomore Ryan Lee (Sun Valley) added a pair of goals.
Cabrini will face Marywood (10-7) in Saturday’s championship game, after the Pacers downed Gwynedd Mercy 14-6 today in Scranton. This will mark the third times the teams have met in the championship game and the first since 2011. The Cavaliers scored an 18-8 win over the Pacers on April 5 behind a program record 13 points from Elmer.
Freedom Conference semis
Eastern 21, FDU-Florham 10
Eastern advanced to the Freedom Conference Championship for the third year in a row after eliminating the Devils.
The Eagles’ starting three attackmen Eric Waibel (Avon Grove), Grant Ferguson and Dave Darling combined for 17 of those goals. Darling set an Eagles’ season-high with 11 points on five goals and six assists. With the 11 points, Darling moved into first place in Eastern’s record books for single season points with 85 points this season. Grant Ferguson, who had had five goals and two assists on the day, tied the previous points leader, Chris Farrar, with 75 total points this year.
Ferguson also set the new single-season goals record with his 58th goal of the year, breaking his own record of 54 goals set last season.
Waibel tallied seven goals Tuesday afternoon to give him his 36th of the year. Waibel and Darling (who has 35 goals this year) could both possibly join Ferguson as the only Eagles in history to score 40 or more goals in a single season.
Andy Jameson, Tim Lamb, Bryan Goetz and Andrew Travers each scored a goal as well in the win.
With the win, the Eagles will face the DeSales University Bulldogs in the Freedom Conference Championship at 1 p.m. on Saturday. Eastern and DeSales played each other last Saturday in the final regular season game of the year with Eastern claiming a 20-3 victory then.
DeSales 9, King’s College 8, 4 OT
Senior James Guerrier took a pass on the right wing from junior Nate Blevins (Owen J. Roberts) and fired a shot high over the King’s College goalkeeper shoulder with 1:22 left in the fourth overtime giving DeSales its first-ever playoff win, over the Monarchs.
DSU (6-10) now advances to the Freedom Conference Championship game where it will take on top seeded Eastern University, a 21-10 winner over FDU-Florham in the other semifinal on Tuesday afternoon. This was DeSales’ third career playoff game with the other two coming in 2009, a 9-2 loss at Elizabethtown, and last year an 8-7 loss at Misericordia in double overtime.
Guerrier finished with two goals and two assists to lead the scoring attack.
Women’s
PSAC Quarerfinals
West Chester 9, Seton Hill 8
West Chester scored six unanswered goals over the final 17 minutes of the game to come from behind and down host Seton Hill, in the quarterfinal round of the 2014 Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference postseason tournament at Dick’s Clothing & Sporting Goods Field.
West Chester (12-4), playing its first conference quarterfinal on the road, advances to the PSAC semifinals for the 11th straight year while avenging a 15-10 loss to the Griffins during the regular season. The fifth-seeded Golden Rams travel to top-seeded Lock Haven for a 1 p.m. tilt against the arch rival Lady Eagles.
Trailing 4-3 at halftime, West Chester dug itself a big hole to climb out of by allowing four straight tallies from the Griffins to open up the second half. The Rams fell behind, 8-3, with 18 minutes remaining in their season, before the visitors woke up and shut out the Griffins the rest of the way.
Head coach Ginny Martino turned to freshman Madison Collins (Marple Newtown) in the waning moments and the first-year player responded with a goal and an assist, playing a role in each of WCU’s last two markers. Her second tally of the season with 1:29 left in the contest broke an 8-8 tie and proved to be the game-winner.
Senior goalkeeper Jess Henderson (Henderson) made eight saves to extend her college career at least one more game.
Freshman Kelsey Gumbert (Pennsbury) scored two goals and picked up one assist. Sarah Dennison scored twice as well. Hannah Cowan (Ursuline) scored once and grabbed an assist. Seton Hill face-guarded West Chester’s top scoring threat all afternoon.
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