CARLISLE, Pa. - It was hard to imagine a better start to the home opener for the fifth-ranked Dickinson men's lacrosse team on Saturday as the Red and White jumped out to a 6-0 lead after 15 minutes, en route to a 12-9 non-conference win over the visiting University of Scranton Royals at Biddle Field.
The home side played "make it, take it" early as two faceoff wins by
John McKee set the stage for tallies by
Sam Campbell and
Matt Thurston to make it 2-0 just over a minute in. After DC keeper
Patrick Scarborough turned away the first Scranton shot of the game from Matthew McAree, the home side recorded the ensuing five shots through
Ethan Gess,
James Isaacson, Campbell and Thurston but none of them found the back of the net. The home team pushed it out to 3-0 with 9:41 gone with Isaacson besting Declan Allen, before offerings by
Mac Childs and
Griffin Moore went wide. However, the Devils would make it four and then five just about two minutes later thanks to Gess and Thurston. Dickinson extended it to 6-0 prior to the end of the period when Thurston caused a turnover by Connor Cole which he then collected the loose ball and deposited the rock behind Allen sending the game to the second.
Dickinson went in search of a seventh to start the second, but Allen had the answer for both
Liam Carney and Isaacson. That allowed the Royals to flip the momentum for a moment as Pat McCormack picked up goal number one, before Kyle Holmes was shutdown twice and McCormack was denied one time by Scarborough. The Devils racked up the next four shots with Allen notching one save, while Thurston collected another making it 7-1. The away bagged two of the final three goals of the half thanks to Holmes (2), while at the other end of the turf Moore ripped one by Allen to allow DC to hold an 8-3 lead into the break.
The two teams shared the opening four shots of the third with each goalie being tasked with making a stop as Allen stoned Gess and Scarborough was able to tell Alex Eglitis "no". Then, with 4:36 gone off a giveaway by Jason Kozak, Childs tickled the twine and
Sascha Gannon buried the ball past Allen just over a minute later to stretch the gap to 10-3. Two of the next three chances went to the visitors with Quinn Carson getting stopped by Scarborough, before Holmes picked up another marker. Then, off the following faceoff McKee fed the ball to
Owen Porter who dispatched the rock into the net (11-4). Scranton then dug their heels in defensively not allowing another Dickinson shot over the final six-plus minutes of quarter, while recording eight shots and two goals pulling within 11-6 at the end of three.
The Royals continued to put the Devils on the backfoot early in the fourth tallying the first four shots of the frame tasking Scarborough with another save. Finally DC got back into the offensive zone as Isaacson missed the mark and rang the iron to keep the score at 11-6. Scranton would ride the momentum of two more Allen saves, to secure two more goals through Kyle Bennett and Holmes to cut the deficit down to just three (11-8) still with just under ten minutes left. However, Dickinson ended the guests charge with a fantastic backhanded goal by Thurston as he was falling over making it 12-8. Boyle notched one more goal for the Royals with a little more than two minutes left to cap the scoring at 12-9.
Red Devil Leaders
Goals - Thurston (5)
Assists - Isaacson and McKee (1)
Groundballs - McKee (9), Scarborough (8),
Capp Reynolds and
Skyler Schluter (3)
Faceoffs - McKee (14-23),
Ben Trucksess (1-2)
Saves - Scarborough (11)
Royal Leaders
Goals - Holmes (4), McCormack (2)
Assists - McAree (3), Boyle (2)
Groundballs - Pierce (6), Lord and O'Connor (4)
Faceoffs - O'Connor (10-25)
Saves - Allen (13)
Next on the Turf
Dickinson (2-0) returns to action next Saturday afternoon at 4pm when the Red and White battle the Maroons of Roanoke College at the Bullis School in Potomac, Maryland.
