Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/18/18
From Press Release
It took 45 minutes to find its offensive rhythm, but six fourth quarter goals helped the Cabrini men’s lacrosse team score a 10-5 victory at Haverford College in the season opener Saturday for both clubs.
Three players recorded hat tricks as the No. 7 Cavaliers earned their seventh consecutive season-opening victory.
Junior Jordan Krug (Cherokee-NJ) led the Blue and White with three goals and a pair of assists, while sophomores Jake Klein and Matt LoParo marked the scoring column three times.
Senior Riley Michaels (Pottsgrove) went 6-13 at the faceoff spot and secured four ground balls, while junior Timmy Brooks (Haverford School) scooped a team-high five ground balls.
Sophomore goaltender Matt Nestler recorded eight saves and kept the Fords off the score sheet over the final 26 minutes. The Cavaliers also forced 13 turnovers on the day, with Krug, classmate Sean Wagner and sophomores Kyle Myers and RJ Wolf (Cherokee-NJ) forcing two each.
The Blue and White got off to a great start, as senior Ethan Trusty opened the scoring with an unassisted tally less than three minutes into the game. Sophomore Drew Hanna hit Krug for his first tally of the game at the 6:11 mark.
The Fords answered two minutes later, pulling within 2-1 after the first quarter.
Haverford continued its scoring run into the second quarter, posting three unanswered goals to take a 4-2 lead with 93 seconds left in the first half. Krug found Klein in the final minute of the stanza to pull Cabrini to 4-3 at the break.
The Fords recorded an early goal to re-establish its two goal cushion, but LoParo’s first goal of the season cut Cabrini’s deficit back to 5-4 with 9:21 left in the third.
Despite outshooting the Fords 10-4 in the third quarter, the Cavaliers could only find the back off the net once, as Haverford’s Dylan Slack recorded four of his 17 saves in the frame.
It didn’t take long into the final period for the Cavaliers to take control of the game. Krug netted two goals in a 21 second span early in the fourth to give Cabrini a 6-5 lead and the game’s momentum.
LoParo’s second goal came at the 7:19 mark, with Klein’s second just 80 seconds later. The sophomore duo completed their hat tricks in the final minutes of the game, with both goals coming under shot clock warnings.
The Cavaliers outshot the Fords 44-18, including 26-7 in the second half, with LoParo and Krug combining for 22 shots.
Ben Frost and Patrick Girard scored two goals each for Haverford, while Isaac Krier paired a goal and a helper.
Frostburg State 9, Ursinus 8
Sophomore Bobby McClure (Haverford High) netted three goals for the Bears, including the game-tying tally with 5:48 remaining in the fourth quarter. But the Bobcats grabbed the lead back with 3:23 remaining and survived a late flurry that included four shots – one of which clanged off the post – to hand Ursinus its first loss in its last nine openers. Peter DeSimone added two goals for Ursinus.
Swarthmore 11, Albright 4
Sophomore Jake Ross (Strath Haven) led the way with four goals. Senior attack Matt Johnson tallied a pair of goals for Swarthmore. Dylan Rittenhouse (Downingtown STEM), Nathaniel Johns, and Cam Marsh each added one, as did long poles Jack Belluche and Lucas Pietrantonio.
Marsh factored into more than half of Swarthmore’s goals by assisting five more scores. Marsh moved in to fifth all-time in the school’s history in assists with 70 in his career.
Sophomore Hunter Luber went 8-for-13 on faceoff attempts and collected five ground balls. In net for Swarthmore, senior John Calia registered 12 saves.
Gwynedd Mercy 10, Drew 5
Senior Jacob Snavely (Central Bucks South) led the offensive attack with four goals while junior Ryan Simpson (Upper Darby) added three as the Griffins opened the season with a win. Kohler Setley (La Salle) would add four assists on the afternoon while Joe Simpson (Upper Darby) chipped a pair goals and Luke Xanthopoulos (Washington Twp-NJ) tally rounded out the scoring, as GMercyU converted on three of five man-up opportunities. Joey Giordano won 11 of 14 faceoffs.
Salisbury 18, Widener 6
Six different players scored for the Pride in its loss to the No. 1 Salisbury Gulls 18-6 in its season opener.
Shane Cook (Avon Grove), Brandon Sweder (Lenape-NJ), Chris Drake, Kevin Kerby, Brady Franks, and John Dunbar (Appoquinimink-DE) each scored for the Blue and Gold.
Cook also picked up five ground balls and caused two turnovers. Anthony Paone (Central Bucks South) scooped nine ground balls and won 14-of-24 faceoffs.
Matt Horton (Emmaus) made 19 saves for Widener
Muhlenberg 15, Immaculata 3
Freshman PJ Lombara led the scoring with four goals – on four shots – in the first game of his career for the Muhles. Sophomores Scott Fayan and Bobby McLoughlin and freshman Ethan Grossman netted a pair of goals apiece.
The Mighty Macs opened their 2018 season under new head coach Niko Amato (La Salle). Freshman Steve Long (Downingtown West), sophomore Ethan Johnson, and senior Brian Shultis each scored goals in the loss.
York 19, Eastern 6
Brendan McGrath (Central Bucks South) had three goals, Jake Hvazda (Spring-Ford) scored twice and Ryan Cook (Avon Grove) had a goal and an assist for No. 5 York (2-0).
Jake Billera (Parkland) had two goals for Eastern.
Also:
Stevens 19, Arcadia 4
Elizabethtown 7, DeSales 4
Sophomore Mike Scrafano (Easton) scored four goals on four shots and freshman Brandon Sankey provided four points in his college debut to lead Elizabethtown over DeSales in its season opener.
The Blue Jays, who lost 91 percent of their offensive production from last year’s NCAA Championships qualifying team, were down a goal in the waning moments of the first half before Sankey darted out from behind the cage and fired a low shot past Bulldog goalie Matt Barry with one second remaining. Sankey’s first career goal capped a three-point half (one goal, two assists) and made it a 3-3 game at the break.
Scrafano gave Elizabethtown (1-0) its first lead of the day, 4-3, with 6:39 to play in the third quarter, completing his second career hat trick off a feed from Sankey. Twelve seconds later, Griffin Liebsch (Downingtown West) found the back of the net and the Blue Jays held DeSales (0-1) without a goal in the period.
Junior Ben Hiltebeitel (Owen J. Roberts) collected E-town’s fourth straight goal 1:28 into the fourth quarter and the Blue Jays tightened up fundamentally. Jeremy Klipple caused two fourth-quarter DSU turnovers, while Jon Knapp (Avon Grove) and Liebsch added one each. The Bulldogs were pressured into five giveaways in the final period, but Elizabethtown committed just one to pull out its seventh straight victory in a season-opener.
DeSales closed the gap to 6-4 on Joe Neggia’s second goal of the game with 10:25 to go, but Scrafano beat Barry for the fourth time at the 6:33 mark to restore Elizabethtown’s three-goal advantage. Along with establishing a new single-game career-high in goals, the sophomore from Easton tied a career-high with four points.
Sankey assisted on Scrafano’s first three goals and also totaled four points. Klipple caused a team-high three turnovers and shared the team lead in ground balls (four) with fellow defenseman Kyle Coats.
Elizabethtown outshot the Bulldogs 21-10 in the second half and 34-23 for the game. The Blue Jays were also 21-of-24 clearing, while DeSales failed to clear on eight of its 23 attempts.
Junior goalie Jack Myers (Wissahickon), making his first start since Feb. 26, 2016, stopped three shots in a winning effort. He made crucial saves on both DSU shots on goal in the third when the Jays opened a multi-goal lead.