Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/28.18
From Press Release
Entering the final weekend of CAA play, there were nine different tie-breaker scenarios with only one of the four spots in the CAA Men’s Lacrosse Tournament secured.
The University of Delaware men’s lacrosse team knew one thing. A win over rival Drexel Friday in Newark and it didn’t have to worry about any tie-breaker scenarios.
The Blue Hens answered that bell in emphatic fashion, thumping the Dragons, 17-8, the biggest margin of victory in a CAA game since 2012 (St. Joseph’s, 16-6) for Delaware. The Blue Hens will now be the #2 or #3 seed in next weekend’s CAA Tournament at UMass. A Towson win on Saturday makes Delaware the #3, a Fairfield win makes Delaware the #2 seed, that game is scheduled for 11 a.m.
It is the first CAA Tournament berth for the Blue Hens since 2014.
“I can’t say enough about this group of the guys and the amount of work they’ve put in this year. We treated tonight like an extension of the CAA Tournament and they locked in and focused all week long,” Delaware Coach Ben DeLuca said. “The seniors were phenomenal all week and really brought a sense of urgency and leadership to the rest of the team and set the tone that allowed us to have the type of night we had tonight.”
Senior captain Will Hirschmann put together the best night of his career with seven goals and an assist, marking the most goals by a Blue Hen since Curtis Dickson on March 6, 2010 (eight goals against Albany). The Annapolis, Md. native entered this year with 28 career goals and now has 25 this year alone.
Sophomore Charlie Kitchen (St. Augustine Prep) continued his outstanding play with five goals and an assist on the night. He has now scored in 16 straight and 27 of his 28 career games. In five CAA games this year, Kitchen had 17 goals and five assists, tops in the conference. Junior Joe Eisele (St. Augustine Prep) was the third Blue Hen with a hat trick, finishing with three goals and an assist on the night. Bryce Reid (Avon Grove) had a goal and two assists.
Reid Bowering had three goalas for the Dragons (5-8, 1-4).
At the X, junior Jake Hervada (Haverford School) finished 14-of-26, grabbed six groundballs and fired home his first goal of the season. Defensively, it was second fewest goals allowed all year by the Blue Hens and third time in four games that Delaware held the opposition to single digit goals. Sophomore Matt DeLuca continued his outstanding play with nine saves on the night.
Women
Delaware 10, Drexel 8
Win and in. With one regular season game remaining, that’s all it took for the Delaware women’s lacrosse team to earn their second straight trip to the CAA Tournament.
Throw in some career milestones and a school record and that’s just what the Blue Hens did Friday with their 10-8 decision over Drexel at Delaware Stadium.
The Blue Hens will be the No. 4 seed in next weekend’s CAA Tournament. Delaware will play the winner of Saturday’s contest between #4/4 James Madison and #8/6 Towson.
Captain Becky Gohsler led the way with five goals, including the 100th of her career with less than one-minute remaining in regulation. The senior added three draw controls to break the Delaware single-season record and finish regular season play with 75 for the Blue Hens (8-9, 3-3 CAA).
Classmate Taylor Carpentier also reached a career milestone after logging eight saves against the Dragons and became just the sixth player in program history to reach 400 career saves, a mark she obtained in just three seasons.
Carpentier joined sophomore Claire D’Antonio (Moorestown) in each picking up a game-high five ground balls while junior Caroline Farley (Shawnee) recorded a team-best four draw controls.
Maggie Stetson (Conestoga) guided the Dragons (4-12, 1-5 CAA) with five points on three goals and two assists to go along with five draw controls while Zoe Bennett collected 11 saves in the cage.
