For immediate release – 2/23/2008 - #214
LC Men's Lacrosse Opens Season With a Thrilling 10-9 Loss at #1 Salisbury
SALISBURY, MD – The Lynchburg College men's lacrosse team opened their 2008 season on the road Saturday afternoon in dramatic fashion, losing by a score of 10-9 to #1 nationally ranked Salisbury University, winners of 70 straight games and three of the last four national championships.
LC staged a furious comeback, scoring the only two goals of the fourth quarter and had possession of the ball with 31 seconds left and down by one goal. LC would then manage two shots, but a costly turnover with less than nine seconds left sealed the victory for the Sea Gulls.
Salisbury (2-0) would score the first two goals, but LC would make a comeback with Johnny Black (Timonium, MD/St. Paul's) scoring the next two goals to send the game into the second quarter tied at 2-2. Salisbury would take control of the second quarter to take a 4-2 lead with 5:30 left in the half. Ryan Cranston (West Chester, PA/Henderson) would cut the deficit to one 33 seconds later on an unassisted goal. Will Poletis scored a man-down goal with 41 seconds left in the half to send Salisbury into intermission with a 5-3 lead. LC outshot the Sea Gulls 13-7 in the first quarter, but the Sea Gulls would outshoot the Hornets 15-6 in the second quarter. SU tallied 12 shots on goal for the half while LC could only manage five as most of their shots went high or wide. Garrett Curran (Hull, MA/Tabor Academy) tallied seven saves for the Hornets in the first stanza with Salisbury winning the groundball and turnover battles 15-9 and 14-10 respectively. Each team won five faceoffs with freshman midfielder Jeff Schwartz (New City, NY/Tabor Academy) going 5-10 at the X for the Hornets.
The third quarter would prove to be a back and forth effort that produced nine goals as Salisbury would go into the final quarter with a 10-7 lead. Matt Hickman, Kylor Berkman, and Patrick Bonanno each found the back of the net with Greg Titus scoring twice. Stephen Weis and Tyler Tolson each recorded two goals for the Hornets. LC outshot SU 16-8 in the third, recorded 14 groundballs to 12 for the Gulls, and forced Salisbury into four failed clears.
Weis led LC with three goals while Black and Tolson each notched two goals apiece. Michael Mundorf (Catonsville, MD/Mt. Saint Joseph) also chipped in with a goal and an assist, Tewaaraton Award Watch List nominee Ryan Cranston (West Chester, PA/Henderson) posted a goal and an assists, and Curran contributed with 11 saves in the net. Norby King (Bryn Mawr, PA/Cardinal O'Hara) and Schwartz each won six faceoffs and combined to go 12-22 at the X.
Berkman paced the Sea Gulls with a goal and four assists, Bonanno and Hickman each scored twice, while Greg Titus torched the cage by scoring four goals. Ryan Finch led Salisbury with eight wins at the X and Connor Burgasser and Ryan Browning tallied eight and six groundballs respectively. Riley Clark provided nine stops for SU.
Lynchburg outshot Salisbury 44-36 (18-21 SOG) and made 11 saves to SU's nine. Salisbury collected 38 groundballs with LC grabbing 29 while LC won the faceoff battle 12-22. The Hornets converted 24 of 29 clear attempts compared to 22 of 26 for SU, while LC committed eight penalties (7:00) to SU's five (4:30), and the Hornets and Sea Gulls committed 28 and 24 turnovers respectively.
Lynchburg (0-1) will be on the road again on March 2, traveling to Delaware, OH, for a non-conference tussle against the Battling Bishops of Ohio Wesleyan University.
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