CARLISLE, Pa. – The second-seeded and eighth-ranked Dickinson men's lacrosse team used a deadly combination of balanced offense and strong defense to outscore the visiting fifth-seeded Gettysburg College 6-1 over the final 30 minutes to secure their third consecutive Centennial Conference Championship with a 13-8 win at a wet and rowdy Biddle Field.
Dickinson needed just 47-seconds to take the lead as
John McKee won the opening faceoff to
Sam Bunten who got the ball ahead to
Luke Whalen who then found
Sascha Gannon for the strike. About two minutes later the visitors would jump ahead 2-1 when Quinton Mather and Charlie Johnson solved
Patrick Scarborough. Before five minutes had gone off the clock
Liam Carney stepped into a shot that bested Chase Morgan to level the score 2-2. Gettysburg then went on a three-goal run with tallies coming from Ryan Cernuto, Jack Dunleavy and Stokes Myers to make it 5-2 with just under six minutes left. A turnover forced by McKee off the ensuing faceoff led to the Whalen-Gannon connection cashing in again, before
Ben Trucksess took the next draw "coast to coast" for the finish pulling the Red and White within 5-4. Each keeper was tasked with making one more save in the period with Morgan shutting down
Skyler Schluter, while Scarborough denied Dunleavy.
Following stops by both goalies within the first four minutes of the second the Devils continued to stare a one-goal deficit in the face. That was until Schluter setup Whalen for the tying goal, unfortunately, Mather would respond a minute later to move the visitors back ahead 6-5 with 8:34 to play in the half. Patrick Maroney extended the margin out to 7-5, but then a turnover caused by
Xander Usich off the faceoff resulted in
James Isaacson receiving a pass from
Ethan Ackerman and getting it ahead to
Owen Porter for the goal. Another turnover forced by Usich led to chances for
Charlie Baughan and Porter, but none found the net. However, two minutes later after Myers was stopped by Scarborough, Schluter tickled the twine with an unassisted marker to draw level heading to halftime.
Dickinson came out firing to begin half number two as Baughan and Gannon missed the net, but
Jack Deady would take advantage of Morgan vacating the cage in the "10-man ride" by sticking the rock in the cage from about 50-yards away to give the Devils their first lead since 1-0 at 8-7. The two sides shared the next four shots over the following four minutes with Isaacson ringing the crossbar, while Morgan shutdown
Ben Monroe on a man-up opportunity. The Red and White maintained their slim one-goal lead until 10:44 had come off the clock when Isaacson finished off a giveaway by Jackson Hearn. Dickinson tried to add onto their lead as
Ethan Gess, Gannon and Schluter each asked a question of Morgan who was up to the task keeping the gap at two going to the fourth.
Gettysburg started the fourth quarter strong trying to cut into the deficit, but Mather was denied twice by Scarborough. That allowed for the home side to go back down the field and get a goal from Gess, which was immediately followed by a faceoff win and tally for McKee. Then, Ackerman knocked the rock free from Myers sending Baughan up the field and eventually finding Gess for the finish opening the margin to five (12-7) with 10:46 to play. A little over a minute later a save by Morgan on Baughan led to Cernuto picking up the Bullets first goal of the half (12-8). Two more stops by the DC keeper and a turnover caused by
Evan Karetsos resulted in the Devils getting their 13th thanks to Porter. The rest of the game belonged to the Dickinson defense as
Ben Tomick and Karetsos each forced one more turnover and Scarborough made one last stop to cap off the 13-8 victory.
Tournament MVP
With his seven caused turnovers and six groundball across the two conference tournament games senior long-stick midfielder
Xander Usich was named the tournament's Most Valuable Player.
Red Devil Leaders
Goals – Gannon, Gess and Porter (2)
Assists – Isaacson and Whalen (2)
Groundballs – McKee (11),
Capp Reynolds and Scarborough (4)
Faceoff – McKee (14-19), Trucksess (3-6)
Saves – Scarborough (8)
Bullet Leaders
Goals – Cernuto and Mather (2)
Assists – Kessler (2)
Groundballs – Hedley (7), Barbera and Marquet (4)
Faceoffs – Voehringer (8-25)
Saves – Morgan (7)
Next on the Turf
Dickinson (16-2) will now await the official NCAA Tournament bracket release which will be announced tomorrow night at 9pm on ncaa.com. With the Devils strong resume there is a high likelihood that the Red and White could be selected as a host site for next weekend's second and third rounds. Stay tuned to dickinsonathletics.com and all Red Devil social media accounts for more information as it becomes available.
