Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/25/17
From Press Release
University of Delaware men’s lacrosse head coach Bob Shillinglaw has seen a lot of great wins in his 39 years as head coach of the Blue Hens – and this one has to rank up there with the best of them.
Delaware got nine goals from its starting midfield unit and freshman goalkeeper Matt DeLuca was nearly flawless in the nets as the Blue Hens posted their first-ever victory over a No. 1 ranked team with a 13-9 victory over Rutgers Saturday at Delaware Stadium.
The Blue Hens (7-3) got three goals each from starting midfielders Will Hirschmann, Steve DeLargy, and Trupert Ortlieb (Episcopal Academy) and DeLuca recorded a career-high 19 goals to earn the Milt Roberts Game Most Valuable Player award as Delaware knocked off a No. 1 ranked team for the first time in seven tries in school history. Delaware’s win over then No. 2 Virginia in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in 2007 was the previous highest-ranked opponent the Hens have defeated.
Rutgers (8-1) was off to its best start since 1955 and entered the game with its first-ever No. 1 ranking in the Maverik media poll. The Scarlet Knights were also ranked No. 3 in this week’s USILA Coaches poll.
“This is a game I think our guys will talking about 10 years from now,” said Shillinglaw, who will retire after this season, his fifth decade as a college head coach. “I am so happy for these guys, they are a great group of kids.
“This is their special moment and that’s what it should be all about. They are playing with a chip (on their shoulder) and we are getting after it. This is one of those games where you walk into the lockerroom before the game and you can see it in their eyes and you know you don’t have to say anything. They were focused and ready.”
After Rutgers scored the game’s first goal three minutes in, Delaware reeled off seven straight goals, including two each from Andrew Romagnoli and Hirschmann, and took a 7-2 advantage into halftime. But Rutgers refused to give in and scored four straight of their own in the third quarter and pulled to within 9-8 on a score by Kieran Mullins just 26 seconds into the final stanza.
From there, the Hens put it into another gear as they followed with four straight goals – two by Ortlieb – to take back control and cruise to the win, their sixth in the last seven games.
“I came out and I was seeing the ball well today,” said DeLuca, whose 19 saves were the most by a UD netminder since Tommy Scherr also turned back 19 shots vs. Lehigh in 2008. “It was a beautiful day, 70 degrees in March. All you can do is come and play as hard as you can. When you play the No. 1 team in the country, that can be a once in a lifetime thing. I can’t thank my defense enough. If I can come out and make the first couple of saves – which I was able to do today – it gets me going and I can pick it up from there.”
Romagnoli also dished out three assists for the Hens, freshman Charlie Kitchen (St. Augustine Prep) added a goal and an assist, and freshman Crosby Matthews won 12 of 19 faceoff tries to pace the Hens.
Penn 10, Cornell 9
The Quakers scored the final three goals of the contest and JJ McBride provided the game-winner with less than two minutes to play as they improved to 4-3 and 1-1 with a win over Cornell (1-6, 0-2) in Ithaca, N.Y.
The victory was the first for Penn on Cornell’s home turf since 1997 and marks the first back-to-back win over the Big Red since 1990-91.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS
*Today’s contest featured six tied scores and five lead changes.
*Simon Mathias matched a career-high with six points and provided a career-high three assists.
*Cornell’s Connor Fletcher had a game-high five goals and one assist.
*Penn came back from a two-goal deficit with 10 minutes to play before scoring the final three goals for the win.
*Neither team capitalized on EMO chances. (Penn 0-2; Cornell 0-4).
*Connor Keating (Haverford School) led the team with five ground balls while Reed Junkin tallied eight saves in the win.
*Penn led Cornell 19-17 in shots on goal for the afternoon.
HOW IT HAPPENED
In a game that was close in nearly every statistical category, it was the Quakers that made the most of their opportunities, especially down the stretch. Trailing 9-7 with 10 minutes to play in the fourth, Penn went on a three-goal run in just six minutes of action off the heels of Kevin McGeary (Malvern Prep), Joe Licciardi and JJ McBride. McBride notched the game-winner on a Mathias assist and buried the shot low to the left post as the Quakers held on for the 10-7 win.
With the score knotted at 7-7 going into the final frame, Penn tallied four of the six goals in the stanza and had to come back from a 9-7 deficit following two tallies from Cornell’s Connor Fletcher at the 10:41 and 10:02 ticks. Following McBride’s goal, the Red and Blue defense shut down the Big Red offense for the final 1:59 of the game to hold on for the win.
With a majority of the game never favoring more than one goal for either side, the Quakers and Big Red traded blows from the start. Tyler Dunn returned to the starting lineup for the Red and Blue and got the game going for the early 1-0 Penn lead, while Mathias and McGeary bookended the first quarter to counter two goals from Fletcher as Penn held a 3-2 advantage after the first quarter.
A defensive minded second stanza saw just one goal for each side, with McBride grabbing his first goal of the season at the 13:32 mark off a deflected shot and Cornell’s Jeff Teat countering at the 6:06 tick to make it a 4-3 game at intermission.
Action heated up in the third quarter and Cornell was the first to strike as they knotted the game at 4-all just 46 seconds into the frame. The Quakers were quick to respond, adding in another two goals from McBride and Mathias in under a minute as the Red and Blue pulled ahead 6-4.
Despite the lead, Cornell was able to finish the third quarter on a three goal run with the go-ahead and game-tying goals coming from Fletcher and Ryan Matthews. Teat pushed the Big Red ahead for the 7-6 lead to finalize the third quarter with 3:48 on the clock, but Cornell wouldn’t be able to hang on for the lead as the Quakers three goal rally in the fourth solidified the win.
Villanova 18, Fairfield 9
The Wildcats (5-4) closed out their non-conference schedule with a victory at Fairfield (3-6).
Villanova jumped out to an early 5-0 lead which was started when John Kluh netted the first goal of the game just under two minutes in. Christian Cuccinello, Jack Curran, Connor Kirst, and Danny Seibel each respectively scored the next four goals with just under 10 minutes to go in the quarter.
Fairfield was able to net three goals to bring themselves within two but Jake Froccaro scored the next three goals to stretch the lead. The first goal was assisted by Kluh the following two by Cuccinello.
Kluh and Curran scored their second goals of the game less than ten seconds apart, Joey Froccaro was credited for the dish on Curran’s goal. The Stags got one to end the second Villanova five goal run but Devin McNamara scored back-to-back goals before halftime to put Villanova up 12-4.
Curran scored his third goal of the day on a pass from Jake Froccaro to get the second half started. Fairfield was able to score the next three goals, Dylan Beckwith scored the first and Colin Burke scored the final two goals, the last was on a double man-up opportunity to make the score 13-7 Villanova. Joey Froccaro was able to net one with just seconds to go before the end of the 3rd to make Villanova’s lead 14-7.
Andrew Eidenshink (La Salle) had four groundballs and three caused turnovers for Fairfield.