Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 5/15/22
From Press Release
The Cabrini men’s lacrosse team paired a balanced offensive attack and a solid defensive effort to score a 14-8 win over Washington & Lee Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Salisbury, MD.
The win sets up a second meeting this season against No. 1 Salisbury, as the No. 12 Cavaliers and Sea Gulls will meet today at 3pm with a trip to next weekend’s national quarterfinal round on the line.
Seven Cavaliers marked the scoring column in today’s win, led by junior Dillon McManus’ four goals. Classmate Mike Vanaman (St. Augustine Prep) added four points on two goals and two assists.
Fellow juniors Austin Bolton and Dan Bennett (St. Augustine Prep) joined sophomore Max Drift with two goals, while senior Evan Trizonis (Garnet Valley) and freshman Jake Schneider (Ocean City) marked the scoring column.
Senior Jake Huey (Marple Newtown) sparked the attack with a 15-25 performance at the faceoff spot, adding nine ground balls, two caused turnovers and an assist to his stat line.
Graduate goaltender Matt Nestler secured the victory with five saves, six ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers. Seniors Zack Kaut (Penncrest), Jake Goss (St. Joseph’s Prep) and Matt Hughes (berks Catholic) joined junior Kyle Kutyla, Nestler and Huey with two caused turnovers each.
The Generals opened the scoring but the Cavaliers responded just 43 seconds later. W&L regained its lead at the 6:30 mark, but Huey found McManus for a goal five seconds later to even the score. McManus added two more goals in a 42 second span late in the first quarter to give the Cavaliers a lead they would not relinquish.
Bolton and Bennet found the back of the net in the second quarter, keeping the Blue and White cushion at three goals, but a Generals goal with five seconds left in the frame cut the Cabrini lead to 6-4 at the half.
The Generals pulled closer with a man-up goal in the opening minutes of the third. Cabrini maintained its slim one goal lead midway through the period, when a McManus marker pushed the lead to 8-6. Vanaman added an unassisted goal with 2:30 to play in the frame, extending Cabrini’s advantage to 9-6 with 15 minutes to play.
Trailing 10-7 early in the fourth, the Generals looked to make a late comeback, but the Cavaliers were not going to let that happen. Junior Gerry Ulatowski (Unonville) found Bolton for a goal that sparked a run of four unanswered Cabrini goals, a run that built an insurmountable late lead.
The Blue and White recorded 55 shots on the day, the 10th time the club has surpassed 50, while committing a season-low 10 turnovers.
Henry Holliday led the Generals with three goals, while goaltender Nick Spagnoletti recorded 14 saves.
Salisbury advanced to Sunday’s game with today’s 22-13 win over Stockton. Cross Ferrara led the Sea Gulls with seven points and five goals, while Isaac Thrasher and Charlie White added four goals each. Jack Dowd handed out five assists.
Salisbury scored the game’s first three goals before the Ospreys rallied. Despite the home side kept its lead, Stockton kept the game tight, pulling to within two goals on several occasions in the second quarter.
The Sea Gulls pulled away in the third quarter, netting the first five markers of the period.
The Cavaliers and Sea Gulls played an “instant classic” on April 22, when the team met at Edith Robb Dixon Field. Salisbury built a 5-1 lead late in the second quarter, but the Blue and White turned the game around in the fourth.
Cabrini outscored Salisbury 7-1 and held a 9-6 lead on Schneider’s goal with 3:34 to play. Unfortunately, the Cavaliers could not hold the lead, as the visitors stormed back with three goals in the final two minutes, including Jarrett Bromwell’s game tying marker with 31 seconds left in regulation. Ferrara put the game to bed in the second overtime period with his fourth goal of the evening.