Men’s Lacrosse Opens Season with Convincing Win
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – The Susquehanna men’s lacrosse team quickly shook off any early rust it may have had in its season opener against Washington & Jefferson by scoring seven unanswered goals en route to a 9-3 victory on Saturday afternoon.
The Crusaders (1-0) trailed 2-0 early in the second quarter before exploding for seven straight goals in the season-opening victory over the Presidents (0-1).
Junior Dustin Breakey (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley) led SU with three goals while freshman Pete Doelp (Essex Falls, N.J./West Essex) added three assists. Reining Rookie of the Year Marcus Cheatham (Reistertown, Md./Loyola HS) added one goal and one assist for Susquehanna.
Goalie Jordan Daney (Wynnewood, Pa./Lower Merion) played all but the final 90 seconds of the game and recorded seven saves, with six coming in the first half.
The Crusaders held a sizeable 42-19 edge in total shots and converted on three of six extra-man opportunities.
The SU defense, meanwhile, not only limited Washington & Jefferson to just 19 shots but also forced 32 Presidents turnovers and allowed them to capitalize on just one of their three extra-man opportunities.
The game started out in favor of Washington & Jefferson as Mark Ringeling scored with 5:37 left in the first quarter. He struck again just two and a half minutes into the second quarter to put his squad ahead 2-0.
From that point on, however, it was all Crusaders. Breakey put Susquehanna on the board with 4:27 left in the opening half on a Doelp assist. Just over two minutes later, Cheatham netted the equalizer and Breakey closed out the half with the go-ahead score at the 1:23 mark that gave SU a 3-2 edge at the midway point of the game.
Billy Spack (Arlington, Va./Yorktown) continued that first-half momentum with an unassisted goal less than 30 seconds into the third quarter. Freshman J.B. Montanye (Reistertown, Md./Loyola HS), senior Justin Darlea (Allentown, N.J./Allentown) and junior Tim Pastore (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) scored back-to-back-to-back goals to close out that third quarter and hand Susquehanna a 7-2 advantage.
The Presidents’ Grant Stouffer made it a four-goal game with his score less than 60 seconds into the final quarter but Luke Delavan and Breakey both added goals to up the Crusaders’ lead to 9-3. The SU defense made sure Washington & Jefferson did not find the back of the net for the final 14 minutes of the action to clinch the win.
Next game: Wednesday, March 9 at King’s (Pa.) – 4:00 p.m.
