ST. DAVIDS, Pa.- Eastern University Men's lacrosse rallied from an
early 5-1 deficit, but the comeback went for naught as the sixth seeded
Elizabethtown College Blue Jays scored four unanswered goals in the
fourth period to claim a 13-10 road win in the first Round of the MAC
playoffs. Elizabethtown (9-6) will play at Widener University on Wednesday.
The
Blue Jays grabbed possession early, and with that possession, they
built a 2-0 lead before the Eagles even had a touch on the ball. Cory
Boushell opened the scoring in the opening minute with his first of two
on the day, and Derek Kline fought off a pair of defenders for his
first of three on the game at the 90 second mark.
Though the
Eagles were able to force a turnover after losing their third straight
face-off, the first possession of game went without a result and the
Blue Jays built their lead to 3-0 on Derek Neiheiser's 17th of the year
midway through the period.
It looked as though the Eagles were
going to gain momentum back when Chris Farrar gathered a bounce pass
from Ron Johnson on the crease and tucked the shot home for his first
of the day. There would not be, however, a change in momentum yet.
The
visitors scored late in the first, and then took advantage of an
extra-man opportunity to build the lead to 5-1. The Eagles, who entered
the afternoon as the second-least penalized team in the conference,
spent a total of eight minutes short-handed on ten different penalties.
The Blue Jays capitalized three times on those chances.
Zac Ivy
rolled in a shot on the crease to start the Eastern rally with 11
minutes to play in the first half. Will Johnson tagged the lower corner
with a strong shot from the right alley to pull the Eagles to within
two one minute later.
AJ Ryan won the next face-off on a procedure call, and Matt
Soldano powered home a high shot to the upper left corner to closed the
gap to 5-4 midway through the period. The Eagles won the next face-off,
but a turnover led to a holding penalty to give the Blue Jays a chance
to hold the ball. They did not score on the extra man opportunity, but
Greg Kenneally scored shortly after the teams went to even to put
Elizabethtown up two again.
With time winding down in the period,
the visitors again looked to be patient with the ball, but Ryan Cassidy
checked a ball free and Brendan Stouber snared the ground ball to regain
possession. The Eastern possession did not last long as Joey Wilmot
broke through in transition and delivered a final pass as he was
obliterated by an Etown defender. Ivy caught the ball and shoveled home
his second of the day.
The guests stretched the lead to two with
a goal in close on another man-up situation. Boushell tucked home a
shot from right on the doorstep. Ryan was held on the ensuing face-off
and the Eagles took advantage of their only man-up situation on the day
as Chris Farrar found a cutting Matt Wagner at the one minute mark.
Ryan
won the next face-off and Matt Mandia earned the box for a time-out
call. The Eagles ran a great set out of the break for Wagner to again
finish from Farrar with 43 seconds to play. Both teams had chances to
score in the final 40 seconds but Aaron Benz made a save on a Shawn
Corcoran shot from in close at one end and Brendan Corcoran stopped a
missile off Dave Darling's stick at the other. Corcoran made five of
his nine saves before intermission, and Benz made six stops in the
first half hour.
Soldano gave the Eagles their first lead of the
game on a solo effort four minutes into the second half, and Darling
put away his 27th of the year on a rebound of a Farrar shot two minutes
later. Corcoran stopped the first ball with his chest, but the rebound
went high and Darling saw the ball well and got off the ground to tip
it home.
The Blue Jays controlled the next face-off out of a
strange scrum and Dustin Mulcahey went straight to the cage and put
away his fourth of the year. Another Eastern penalty was assessed on
the play, and the Blue Jays had more time to hold the ball with an
extra man. The Eastern man-down group fought off the first short-handed
situation, but after both teams turned it over, a penalty on the ride
put the Eastern group back on the field. Kline scored to tie it up.
Darling
took the ball behind the goal after the next face-off and found Farrar
with a skip pass to restore the Eastern lead at 10-9. The Eagles ended
the period down a man, so the visitors started the final period up a
man and in possession.
Etown scored a transition goal and
another unsettled goal on a broken clear to grab the lead for good. The
Eagles fought to gain possession, but a pair of good plays by the
Elizabethtown close defenders kept Eastern from leveling the score.
Schaaf scored as the Eastern defense scrambled to try to force a
turnover, and Shawn Corcoran added his second of the day against an
empty net.
The end of the season brings an end to the career of
Matt Mandia. Mandia and Matt Colello, who has missed the season with
injury, are the two seniors on the Eastern roster. Mandia was
recognized last evening with the Male Award of Excellence, and has been
a standout defender for four years.
