Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/15/19
From Press Releases
No. 11 Virginia (1-1) used an 8-2 run to overcome an early deficit and defeat visiting Lehigh (1-2) on Friday night, 11-8, at Klöckner Stadium. The game which was originally scheduled for Saturday was moved up a day due to a forecast for inclement weather in the Charlottesville area.
Cavalier goalie Alex Rode made three key saves in the third quarter, two of which came in man-down situations. The saves aided Virginia in holding Lehigh scoreless for 18:28 from the second quarter until the fourth quarter.
Dox Aitken (Haverford School) had two goals and two assists and Matt Moore (Garnet Valley) had a goal and an assist while Jeff Conner (Strath Haven) scored once for the Cavs. Justin Schwenk (Spring-Ford) had two assists.
Conor Gaffney (Lenape) won 15 of 23 faceoffs for the Mountain Hawks while senior Alexander Tumminello scored three goals for his first-career hat trick.
“I was proud of the effort and attitude the guys brought to this game tonight,” said Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese. “They battled hard and left it all out on that field. Obviously, we were playing a little short-handed tonight, but we didn’t use that as an excuse and we just scrapped for 60 minutes.”
Tumminello’s three goals and four points were both career highs. Senior Tristan Rai had two goals and two assists while classmate Mickey Fitzpatrick dished two assists. Making his first-career start, freshman Tommy Schellinghad multiple points for the first time in his career.
Lehigh’s defense contained a potent Virginia offense, which finished seventh nationally last season in scoring offense. Junior Andrew Eichelberger tallied career highs in groundballs (5) and caused turnovers (3), senior Matt Rimol caused two turnovers while senior Craig Chick had four groundballs and a caused turnover.
Goalie James Spence (Springfgield-Delco) had 8 saves for Lehigh.
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the second week in a row UVA scored first, but then found itself in a hole. With a 2-0 lead over the Mountain Hawks, Lehigh responded by scoring five goals in a row to take a 5-2 lead at 7:42 in the second quarter.
Lehigh owned a two-goal lead, 6-4, at halftime. UVA, who handed Lehigh three extra-man goals in the first half on four penalties, settled in nicely. Dox Aitken scored a big goal to lead the third-quarter scoring. Michael Kraus scored back-to-back goals to give UVA the lead for good.
Lafayette 13, Wagner 10
After trailing by an 8-7 score at the halftime break, the Leopards locked in defensively and converted their chances on the other end in the second half, registering its first road win of the season at Wagner.
Sophomore Gabe Smithline (Springside Chestnut Hill Academy) held a 13-of-25 advantage at the X with the Leopards carrying advantages in ground balls (33-25) and turnovers, forcing 17 and committing just 12. Shots also finished in favor of the Maroon and White, 40-31.
Freshman Ryan Ness made six of his eight saves on the day in the second half of play, while three hat tricks led the Leopards on the offensive end. Senior Connar Dehnert and sophomores Andrew Robbins and Bryan Hess all registered a trio in the scoring column, and senior co-captain Conor Walters netted a goal and two assists for a three-point day. Sophomore Pat Tully was a forced on the defensive end, causing a team-best three turnovers and picking up five ground balls.
Wagner controlled the opening quarter, leading 4-1 into the final minute, but the Leopards sent the game to the second with momentum. With less than a second remaining, sophomore Bryan Hess found junior Chris Adamo, who beat the buzzer with a low shot to the bottom right corner, cutting the lead in half at 4-2.
In the second, Lafayette netted two of the first three to make it a one-goal game at the 10:14 mark, 5-4. Wagner answered with the next two, but three straight, including two from Dehnert tied it at 7-7 into the final minute. The Seahawks stemmed the tide with 13 seconds remaining to push the game to intermission with the Leopards trailing, 8-7.
The third period swung momentum to the Maroon and White with Walters finding Robbins at 4:27 on the clock to give Lafayette its first lead of the day, 10-9. Into the fourth, that run continued as the Leopards used solid defensive play and continued conversions offensively to open up an insurmountable 13-9 advantage. Wagner’s score with 27 seconds proved too little, too late, as the clock ran out on a 13-10 win.
The victory moves Lafayette above the .500 mark on the year with an overall record of 2-1. Wagner drops to 1-2 this season in defeat.