Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/1/16
From Press Release
Redshirt freshman Andrew Romagnoli exploded for six goals, including four in a seven-goal first quarter, to lead the University of Delaware men’s lacrosse squad to its first victory of the season, a 14-6 triumph over VMI at Delaware Stadium Tuesday afternoon.
Romagnoli, a first-year transfer from Marquette, had scored just one goal in the Hens’ first four games, but he made a big statement against the Keydets as he scored three times in a span of just four minutes at the end of the first quarter to stake the Blue Hens (1-4) to a quick 7-2 lead.
Delaware never looked back from there as the Hens outshot VMI by a 43-17 margin, held a 44-24 advantage in groundballs, won 15 of 24 faceoffs, and forced 24 turnovers.
“We started off really strong and dominated a lot of key areas throughout the game,” said Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw, who picked up win No. 299 at Delaware and moved to within a victory of becoming just the second men’s lacrosse coach to win 300 games at the same NCAA Division I institution. “We won a lot of faceoffs, which gave us more opportunities to score on possessions. We were patient and were able to get off a lot of shots. It has been a while since we were able to put 43 shots on goal. It was a complete victory.
“Andrew played great today,” said Shillinglaw of his young attackman. “He really took his guy to the cage. Coach (Byron) Collins did a great job setting the offense up. VMI didn’t really have an effective back up or slide and Andrew was able to take advantage of that.”
Freshman Campbell Parker added two goals and an assist, and Paul Major (Spring-Ford)) scored a goal and dished out two assists to lead the Delaware offensive assault. Romagnoli also added an assist for good measure.
Romagnoli’s six goals were the most by a Delaware player since All-American Curtis Dickson scored eight times against Albany in 2010 and the most by a freshman since Tom Ervin also had six against Hofstra in 1986. His seven points were the most by a UD player since Grant Kaleikau had eight points vs. Detroit in 2012.
Sam Walsh won 8 of 13 faceoffs and Jake Hervada was 7 for 11 to lead Delaware’s domination in that category. Goalkeeper Parker Ferrigan picked up his first career victory with five saves. Defensively, senior midfielder John O’Connor picked up nine groundballs and caused two turnovers.
VMI (1-3), coming off their first win of the season Saturday over NJIT, got four goals and an assist from leading scorer Wesley Sanders.
Delaware jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the opening three minutes on goals by Connor Frisina, Romagnoli, and Jake Levine before VMI answered with consecutive goals from Sanders to cut the lead to 3-2.
But Delaware reeled off four straight goals – three by Romagnoli – to end the quarter and then scored the final two goals of the first half for a 9-3 halftime cushion. The Hens then outscored VMI 3-1 in the third quarter and took their biggest lead at 14-5 on a goal by Parker with 6:46 remaining.
HEN SCRATCHINGS
• Delaware reached season-highs for goals (14), shots (43), groundballs (44), caused turnover (14)
• The seven goals in the first quarter were the most by Delaware since the Hens scored seven times in third quarter of a 16-6 win over Saint Joseph’s on Apr. 14, 2012
• Delaware avoided its first 0-5 start in school history with the win
• Delaware played without top defenders Connor Lalley and Austin Haynes due to injuries
• Delaware will return to action Saturday when the Hens host. #14 Villanova in the second game of a women’s-men’s doubleheader at 3 p.m. at Delaware Stadium
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