Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/21/24
From Press Release
The No. 16 Swarthmore College men’s lacrosse team outscored Eastern University, 7-2, in the second half as they surged to a 16-12 road victory on Wednesday afternoon.
Clay Almgren and Carter Strauch led with four goals for Swarthmore. Almgren tallied all four of his scores in the second half as he helped the Garnet overcome a slow start. Von Mabbs also recorded a hat trick to go along with two assists in a five-point performance.
Swarthmore (2-0) maintained its dominance on faceoffs with a 23-8 advantage over the Eagles. Jack McHenry went 12-for-16 on faceoffs, while Matthew Martinez was 11-for-15. McHenry also led the way with eight ground balls, while Liam Halstead forced five turnovers on defense.
Ryan Pretzer earned the win in his season debut for the Garnet with eight saves.
The Eagles (1-1) led 10-9 at halftime, but the Garnet took advantage of a strong ride and domination at the faceoff X to win the final two quarters.
HOW IT HAPPENED
– Six different goal scorers found the back of the net in the opening quarter for Swarthmore. After the Eagles (1-1) jumped out to a two-goal advantage, Jackson Brosgol and Michael Hardiman scored on assists from Rex Mabbs to tie the game. Liam Halstead then added another score in between two Eastern goals at the 8:08 mark. With the team trailing by one goal, the Garnet rallied for three-unanswered scores from Carter Strauch, Ryder Maston and Von Mabbs to pull ahead by two goals. Eastern then ended the final three minutes of the stanza with a couple goals to tie the game, 6-6.
– Early in the second quarter, Carter Strauch added a pair of goals to complete the hat trick and put the Garnet ahead by two scores. Eastern countered with a goal to cut its deficit in half until Von Mabbs scored off an assist from his brother Rex at the 8:51 mark. However, the Eagles held Swarthmore scoreless for the final eight minutes of the half, while tallying a trio of goals to take a one-score lead into intermission, 10-9.
– Almgren scored all three of the team’s goals in the third quarter. The sophomore tied things up with his first tally at the 12:03 mark. Midway through the quarter, the Eagles countered with the equalizer before Almgren closed the stanza with two unanswered scores, 12-11.
– Early in the fourth, Owen Hoffman provided the Garnet with some breathing room after scoring on an assist from Maston. Eastern then answered with a score of their own, before Almgren took the goal back with his fourth tally of the contest. Carter Strauch and Von Mabbs then secured the victory with insurance goals in the final five minutes.
Nicholas Fanelli (Pennridge) scored three goals and added an assist to lead the Eastern attack. Christopher Fanelli (Pennridge) and Nick Litzenberger each had two goals and an assist and Connor Bachman scored twice. Zach Puckett (Pennrcrest) had five groundballs and five caused turnovers.
