CARLISLE, Pa. – Junior attackman
Matt Thurston notched five goals on the night, including four in the first quarter as the seventh-ranked Dickinson men's lacrosse team responded from their first Centennial Conference loss of the season in "grand style" on Wednesday with a 12-8 victory over 19th-ranked Gettysburg College in front of a raucous crowd at Biddle Field.
Dickinson was on the attack right off the opening whistle as
Sam Campbell,
James Isaacson,
John McKee,
Colin Williams and Thurston all let shots fly at cage inside the two-minute mark with GC keeper Chase Morgan having to make one stop. That allowed the Bullets to get their attack going as Ethan Kessler went wide twice, before Quinton Mather beat
Patrick Scarborough. However, that then led to Thurston going on a rampage burying the rock on four consecutive shots off of assists from
Skyler Schluter,
Ethan Gess and Isaacson to take a 4-1 edge with 5:39 to go. They were not done though as
Ethan Ackerman knocked the ball loose from Will Hedley resulting in an unassisted marker for Williams at the other end to push it out to 5-1. The Red and White continued to apply pressure with
Owen Porter and Campbell tasking Morgan with making two more saves to hold it at 5-1 going to the second.
The two sides shared the opening six shots of the second period with Dickinson asking one stop of Morgan, while the Bullets collected three straight goals from the trio of Charlie Johnson, Hedley and Mather to pull within 5-4 still with 10:43 left. Following a stop by each keeper, Campbell stashed the ball beyond the reach of Morgan for the 6-4 edge at the six minute mark. The ensuing eight minutes would go by scoreless as both keepers made one stop during that stretch as the remaining six shots all missed the mark. Gettysburg would trim the deficit to one as the game went to the break when Jack Dunleavy cashed in an unassisted marker (6-5).
The Bullets did eventually make it all the way back to level with 57-seconds off the clock when Dunleavy scored once again (6-6). Dickinson had a chance to reclaim the lead, but Morgan was there to shutdown Morgan. However, two minutes later the Devils would go back on top with
Sascha Gannon making it 7-6, before a faceoff win by McKee to
Xander Usich resulted in Isaacson sticking the rock in the twine for an 8-6 edge with five minutes gone. The Red and White were not done with Schluter finding Gess for a tally, prior to Porter setting up Thurston to make it a four-goal cushion at 10-6 with 5:53 remaining. A man-up marker by Dunleavy hacked one off the lead (10-7) with just about four minutes left. Dickinson attempted to get the goal back, but their remaining six shots would only force Morgan to make one stop.
Each team recorded two shots in the opening five minutes with Thurston pinging the post, before Morgan turned away his second chance. At the other end of the field Mather fired one wide, while Scarborough had the answer for Dunleavy. Isaacson would make it 11-7, but Dunleavy answered back just seven seconds later off the faceoff win by Michael Voehringer. After Scarborough shutdown Stokes Myers a minute later, Williams finished off a wrap-around tally past Morgan extending the gap to 12-8. From that moment on it was all about the Dickinson defense as
Sam Bunten and
Evan Karetsos each forced a giveaway, while the rest of the unit locked things down as the Bullets did not record a shot over the final eight minutes to allow the Devils to close out the 12-8 win.
Red Devil Leaders
Goals – Thurston (5), Isaacson and Williams (2)
Assists – Schluter (2)
Groundballs – McKee (11), Karetsos, Porter and Schluter (5)
Faceoff – McKee (15-21),
Ben Trucksess (1-3)
Saves – Scarborough (7)
Bullet Leaders
Goals – Dunleavy (4), Mather (2)
Assists – Dunleavy, Myers and Voehringer (1)
Groundballs – Hedley (5)
Faceoffs – Voehringer (8-24)
Saves – Morgan (13)
Next on the Turf
Dickinson (12-2, 5-1 Centennial) will look to continue to solidify their grip on the number two seed in the upcoming Centennial Conference tournament when they head to Haverford College on Saturday for a conference showdown with the Fords at 3pm.
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