Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/25/17
A furious comeback from a first half deficit, a brilliant performance by a freshman goalkeeper in his first career start, and a goal with 1:04 left in the first overtime period all resulted in a thrilling victory for the University of Delaware men’s lacrosse squad Saturday afternoon as the Blue Hens knocked off Monmouth 11-10 at Delaware Stadium.
Delaware sophomore Andrew Romagnoli scored his third goal of the game with 1:04 left in the first overtime to lift the Blue Hens (2-2) to the comeback victory in the first-ever meeting between the two schools.
The Blue Hens scored six goals in the third quarter to overcome an early 5-2 deficit in a game that eventually saw the score tied six times in the second half. Delaware appeared to have the game won when Joe Eisele (St. Augustine Prep) tallied his fourth goal of the game with 3:26 left but Monmouth (2-2) sent the game into overtime when Tyler Keen (Downingtown West, 3G) scored with 17 seconds left in regulation.
Monmouth won the opening faceoff in overtime and got two shots off but Delaware freshman goalkeeper Matt DeLuca saved both and the Hens regained possession. After a timeout with 1:21 left, the Hens worked the ball around until Romagnoli slipped a shot from the left side from 15 yards out for the game winner, setting off a wild celebration on the field.
DeLuca, a freshman who had played just three minutes all season, did not find out he was making his first career start until the pre-game breakfast as Blue Hen starter Parker Ferrigan was home sick in bed. DeLuca finished with 15 saves to highlight a solid defensive effort.
“This was gutsy win for our guys,” said Delaware head coach Bob Shillinglaw. “We kept grinding away and made some plays. There are no easy teams out there so this was certainly a good win for us. We are pleased to walk away with the victory. It makes it even more exciting to win in this fashion after coming back from being down in the first half and winning in overtime. Our defense played great and Jake (Hervada, Haverford School) was a great against a very good faceoff specialist. We had complete confidence in Matt (DeLuca). We have two very good goalkeepers and while we are disappointed Parker couldn’t experience this today, we are excited for Matt. He made some great saves.”
The Hawks, who earlier this season knocked off nationally-ranked Villanova, jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the second quarter and went into halftime up 5-2. But the Hens scored five of the first six goals of the second half in a span of 10 minutes, including two by Romagnoli, to take a 7-6 lead. The game was tied two more times, setting up the overtime session.
Eisele finished with a game-high four goals while Romagnoli scored three times and dished out an assist, Will Hirschmann had a goal and two assists, and Charlie Kitchen (St. Augustine Prep) had a goal and an assist. Hervada won 14 of 24 faceoffs for the Blue Hens vs. Justin Schwenk (Spring-Ford), .
Monmouth, which held a 42-29 advantage in shots, including a 20-12 first half edge, got three goals and an assist from Bryce Wasserman and two goals each from Keen and Dan Bloodgood. Eric Berger (Penn Charter) had a goal and an assist and Chris Daly (Lower Merion) tallied once.
Holy Cross 14, Lehigh 8
Holy Cross jumped out to a 9-1 lead, Lehigh scored five of the next six goals, but the Crusaders answered, defeating the Mountain Hawks in the Patriot League opener. Sophomore Andrew Pettit (Tower Hill) scored Lehigh’s first four goals and finished with career highs in goals (4), assists (3) and points (7).
Sophomore Tristan Rai also scored three goals for his eighth-career hat trick. Freshman faceoff specialist Conor Gaffney (Lenape) continued the stellar start to his collegiate career, winning 17-of-22 faceoffs with 13 groundballs. Sophomore Craig Chick was all over the field, recording four groundballs and five caused turnovers while Eddie Bouhall recorded four groundballs and a caused turnover.
Loyola 18, Lafayette 5
Alex Mezey (Conestoga) got his first career start and made the most of it by recording a career-high three goals for the Leopards. Scott McAvoy (Wyomissing) and Conor Walters were responsible for the other two Leopards’ goals. On the defensive end, Will McCarthy caused a team-high three turnovers, while Chris Adamo recorded five groundballs.
Albany 19, Drexel 8
The No. 12 Great Danes spoiled Drexel’s home opener at Vidas Field, 19-8. Connor Fields and J.D. Colarusso had big days for Albany in the win. Fields scored six goals and assisted on four others, while Colarusso made 19 saves in goal as Albany improved to 1-1. Joe Rainoldi had a hat trick for the Dragons, who are now 0-2 on the young season.
Duke 16, St. Joseph’s 3
For the third game in a row, senior midfielder Kevin Reidinger scored twice, but the Hawks dropped their road opener at #18/16 Duke at Koskinen Stadium. After facing three nationally-ranked opponents to open the season, the Hawks sit 0-3 overall, while the Blue Devils improve to 3-2.
Hofstra 10, Princeton 8
Tyler Blaisdell made 16 saves, Michael Sowers (Upper Dublin) had three goals and an assist and Zach Currier had a goal and two assists for Princeton (2-1).
Gavin McBride (Haverford School) had his streak of consecutive games with at least three goals snapped at seven, one off of Chris Massey’s 21-year-old school record. McBride did have a goal and assist, and he extended his streaks of consecutive games with at least one goal to 12 and at least one point to 33.