CARLISLE, Pa. - The Dickinson men's lacrosse team took command of their second-round NCAA Tournament game early on Saturday afternoon at Biddle Field as the Red and White built up a 5-0 first quarter lead en route to a dominating 19-3 victory over the visiting John Carroll University Blue Streaks.
The teams traded chances early with
Ethan Gess and
Matt Thurston missing the mark for DC, while Kevin Hack slipped on wide of cage. At the 3:32 mark the Devils struck first as
Owen Porter found a cutting
Sam Campbell on the right-side. Then after both
Chris Brandau and Jon Gaglio made stops for their respective sides,
Ben Tomick popped the rock loose from Tanner Gill-Snow, which allowed long-pole
Evan Karetsos to track down the groundball clear the center line and rip a shot past Gaglio. The Devils then played "make it, take it" bagging two more as
Skyler Schluter buried one on a feed from
James Isaacson, before he then found Porter for the finish to extend the lead to 4-0 with 6:48 to play prompting a JCU timeout. Karetsos continued his strong start to the game by forcing a turnover that led to Porter dishing off to Isaacson for the goal. Three of the next six shots went to the Devils with
Lee Dunn and
Sascha Gannon tasking Gaglio into two more stops to hold the lead where it was. Both Gaglio and Brandau would record another save to end the period.Â
The visitors had the opening three shots of the second with Hack forcing Brandau to make a save, while Morgan Morrell rang iron and Josh Lombardo sailed a shot wide. Dickinson would make their next three shots count as Karetsos picked up his second of the day, before two consecutive faceoff wins resulted in markers for Isaacson and
John McKee pushing the lead to 8-0 with 12:46 left in the half. The next three attempts went to the Blue Streaks with Matt Berdysiak finally denting Brandau at the 5:09 mark to make it 8-1. However, DC had the immediate response with
Ben Trucksess claiming the ensuing draw and watching his shot go wide, before Isaacson struck unassisted. A turnover caused by
Sam Bunten led to the Devils hitting double-digits thanks to Bunten who collected the rebound off a Porter shot. A giveaway by the Red and White allowed Colin Morrissey to beat the keeper trimming it down to 10-2 at the halfway point of the period. The Devils asked more questions of Gaglio as he was tasked with turning aside both Isaacson and Schluter. John Carroll would outshoot DC four to one over the final three minutes, but were unable to add on any more going to the break.
Dickinson planted another one beyond the reach of the JCU goalie with just 18-seconds off the clock thanks to Schluter. Brandau had answers on back-to-back chances from Aidan Dugan to keep things at 11-2, which allowed Porter to rack up another one with 11:31 left. The next three minutes would go by without a shot, until a cross-checking penalty let Morrissey score man-up to make it 12-3 with less than nine to play. After each side tallied three chances with the keepers making one save each Isaacson found
Will Farrell for the 13th to set the ten-goal cushion, prior to Campbell striking off a pass by
Mac Childs stretching it out to 14-3. Another save from Gaglio sent the Blue Streaks heading down the field, however
Ben Tomick knocked the ball free from Dugan letting Thurston hit Porter for the finish. Dickinson was not done for the quarter though as Thurston delivered the rock to
Ethan Gess making it 16-3 heading to the fourth.Â
The Red and White continued to attack with Childs firing wide, before Dunn cashed in at the 59-second mark. Berdysiak and Morrell each forced stops out of Brandau over the next four minutes. Then with 9:24 left
Patrick Scarborough took over between the pipes for the Devils and watch
Xander Usich cause a turnover leading to
Cooper Chamberlain dishing to
Jack Murphy for the rocket pushing it to 18-3 at the 6:59 mark. Scarborough notched two saves of his own against Gill-Snow and Morrell, before Dunn found
Charlie Baughan for the final goal of the game setting the 19-3 result.
Red Devil Leaders
Goals - Isaacson and Porter (3), Campbell, Karetsos and Schluter (2)
Assists - Isaacson, Porter and Thurston (2)
Groundballs - McKee (8), Trucksess (7),
Cole Schwartz, Bunten and Usich (4)
Saves - Brandau (6), Scarborough (3)
Blue Streak Leaders
Goals - Morrissey (2), Berdysiak (1)
Assists - Sykas (1)
Groundballs - Sykas (3)
Saves - Gaglio (13)
Next on the Field
Dickinson (16-3) advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Tournament and will take on the Ducks of Stevens Institute of Technology tomorrow afternoon at 3pm back at Biddle Field. It will be a rematch of the season-opener for the Red and White which they won 13-6 in Carlisle on February 18th.
