Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/10/17
From Press Release
No. 9 and host Cabrini secured a spot in Saturday’s NCA Tournament third round with today’s 22-10 win over Colorado College.
Senior Evan Downey (Palmyra, PA) led the Cavaliers with a career high seven points and matched career bests with four goals and three assists. Sophomore Timmy Brooks (Haverford school) added a career high five goals while Riley Michaels (Pottsgrove) won 20 of 24 faceoffs.
Jordan Krug (Cherokee-NJ) added four goals and an assist and Tyler Kostack (Marple Newtoewn) had two goals and two assists while LSM Steve Halko (Springfield-Delco) had two goals and three groundballs.
The Cavs broke open a 3-2 game with a 10-1 spurt in the second period.
With today’s win, the Blue and White advances to Saturday’s third round, where it will face No. 10 Franklin & Marshall College, an 11-8 winner over Elizabethtown. Game time and location have not yet been announced.
Cabrini extended its win streak to 11 games, as it improved to 16-3 overall, one win shy of the program record. The loss closed the Tigers’ campaign at 10-6.
The Blue and White’s offensive flow stemmed from a dominance at the faceoff spot, where it went 26-35. Junior Michaels posted a career best 20 faceoff wins and scooped a game high eight ground balls. Sophomore Trey Critides won six of his nine chances.
Downey, Halko and fellow senior Ryan Hannan led five Cavaliers with three ground balls each.
Defensively, eight Cavaliers caused Colorado turnovers, as the Blue and White forced eight of the Tigers’ 14 miscues. Freshman Matt Nestler earned the victory with six saves, while sophomore Riley White notched a pair of saves in relief.
Brooks got the Cavaliers going early, as the sophomore hit the crossbar on the game’s first shot just seven seconds after the opening whistle. Brooks found the mark 90 seconds later to open the scoring. Colorado evened the score less than two minutes later.
The sophomore completed his hat trick with goals late in the opening period, but Tigers’ goal with 66 seconds left in the quarter cut Cabrini’s lead to 3-2 after 15 minutes.
Any doubt about the game’s outcome was put to rest in the second quarter, as the Cavaliers outscored Colorado 10-1. Downey and Kostack led the way with two goals each in the period, while the senior also posted a pair of assists.
Krug put an exclamation point on the half with his second and third goals of the quarter in the final 12 seconds, sending the Blue and White into the half with a 13-3 cushion.
Cabrini continued its hot shooting into the third quarter, as Halko scored both of his goals in a span of 2:25 early in the stanza. Two minutes later, Downey and Michaels found the net 10 seconds apart, while Brooks and Downey tallied goals nine seconds apart to push the lead to 20-7.
Krug once again marked the scoreboard in the final seconds of the period, as the cushion swelled to 21-7 with 15 minutes to play.
Freshman Coby Petau led Colorado with four goals, while junior Robbie Stern scored twice. Senior Will Baird and sophomore Parker Woo combined for 10 ground balls. Freshman Andrew Harwood suffered the loss in the Tigers’ cage despite 10 saves.
Franklin & Marshall (16-2) pushed its win streak to 16 games with today’s second round win over Elizabethtown. After trailing 8-7 entering the fourth quarter, the Diplomats reeled off four unanswered goals to advance to Saturday’s third round.
Senior Mike Rama (Upper Dublin) and junior Sean Rogers combined for five goals, while senior Anthony Dougherty and junior Read Ziegler accounted for nine of F&M’s 17 caused turnovers. Sophomore goaltender Scott Hatch recorded seven saves to seal the victory.
Saturday’s game will mark the first time the Cavaliers and Diplomats have met since March 4, 2009, when Cabrini topped F&M 12-5.