OWINGS MILLS, Md. - The seventh-ranked Dickinson men's lacrosse team was limited to just two goals over the final 30 minutes and watched a 10-8 halftime lead evaporate as the third-ranked Captains of Christopher Newport University picked up a 13-12 come from behind win on Day Two of the Mustang Classic hosted by Stevenson University.
The Red and White were out of the box quickly as
John McKee claimed the first faceoff leading to
James Isaacson setting up
Sam Campbell for the first. The Devils kept on rolling as
Ethan Gess and
Skyler Schluter (2) tallied on the next three shots to open up a 4-0 edge with just 6:04 off the clock leading to a Christopher Newport timeout. That break seemed to wake the Captains attack up as offering by Andrew Cook and Brett Jackson solved DC goalie
Chris Brandau to pull within 4-2 with 6:14 left in the first. After McKee knocked a ball loose from Warner Cabaniss attempts by
Will Farrell and Schluter forced stops out of Zac Hanway. However, CNU showed why they were Top-3 team in the country burying their next two chances from Alex Brendes and Ryan Cammarata to level the game at 4-4 with 13:24 off the clock. Dickinson tried to reclaim the lead with the final shot of the period, but Farrell was turned aside by Hanway.
An uncaused miscued from CNU led to the Devils fifth marker of the day when Isaacson tracked down a loose ball and fed a skip pass to
Owen Porter who let a shot fly by Hanway to make it 5-4. Drew Miller brought the Captains level 30-seconds later to kickoff a three-goal run as Cook potted two more to open up a 7-5 lead with 9:26 left in the half leading to a DC timeout. A CNU penalty for their third faceoff violation of the half resulted in a man-up for the Red and White that they would cash in on when
Lee Dunn hit a cutting Schluter for a goal to trim it down to 7-6, before Coby Auslander responded for CNU (8-6). A shot clock violation against the Captains led to DC tickling the twine twice as Isaacson and Farrell buried unassisted markers to draw even at 8-8 still with 4:15 to play. Newport recorded the next two chances with Jackson pinging the crossbar, while Miller was snuffed out by the defense. At the other end Hanway turned away Farrell, before Porter found Dunn for a rocket to grab a 9-8 advantage. After Brandau shutdown a point-blank opportunity for Brendes, the Devils cashed in once more as
Griffin Moore took a strong hit but was able to stick the rock beyond Hanway for a 10-8 halftime edge.
Both teams had chances inside the opening two minutes of the third as Auslander and Cook both missed the mark, while Hanway had the answer for Farrell. Two penalties called against Dickinson led to the Captains having a two-man advantage for a minute which saw Brandau make a pair of spectacular saves allowing DC to run out the time. After the successful kill the Devils stretched the margin to three at 11-8 thanks to
Sascha Gannon. However, Brendes and Cook came right back with goals for CNU to close the gap to just one (11-10) with just under ten minutes to go. Brendes, then pulled the Captains even with a man-up tally at the 8:47 mark as Campbell sat for a slash. Each side would record two more shots over the final 2:35 of the period, unfortunately neither of the offerings by Moore or Porter tested Hanway.
Dickinson forced an early stop out of Hanway in the fourth as he denied Gess with a jumping save with 2:14 off the clock. The teams then traded the ensuing four shots as Dunn and Farrell fired wide of cage for the Red and White leaving it at 11-11. On the following trip down the field Brandau stuffed Miller at the top of the crease, before Hanway robbed Gess. However, Gess would get his revenge 16-seconds later as Schluter fed a pass from behind the cage for a bomb from the top of the box for the 12-11 advantage with 8:24 remaining. Dickinson had a chance to push the lead to two, but Campbell was stoned by Hanway leading to four shots for the Captains as well as the tying goal by Brendes at the 9:12 mark. He would then bury the go-ahead tally with 3:36 remaining. Within the final two minutes Isaacson was stopped by Hanway and Schluter got a great look at the left-side of cage with 30-seconds left unfortunately he missed to the right of goal allowing the Captains to run out the 13-12 win.
Red Devil Leaders
Goals - Schluter (3), Gess (2)
Assists - Dunn and Isaacson (2)
Groundballs - McKee (11),
Cole Schwartz (3)
Saves - Brandau (10)
Captain Leaders
Goals - Brendes (5), Cook (4)
Assists - Auslander (3)
Groundballs - Cabaniss (11), Miller, B. Young and R. Young (4)
Saves - Hanway (11)
Next on the Field
Dickinson (5-2) begins Centennial Conference play on Saturday afternoon at 1pm when they trek up to Allentown to square off with the Mules of Muhlenberg College.
