#14 Ithaca Wins Opener; Stevens Edged by #13 Endicott
#14 Ithaca 13, Marywood 10 – Final
ITHACA, N.Y. – The 14th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team began its 2015 season with a 13-10 win over Marywood on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 22, at Higgins Stadium. The Bombers scored five consecutive goals over the final six minutes of the first half and the first two minutes of the second half to build its largest lead of the game and never trailed the rest of the way. It was the first game of the season for both teams.
Each team scored three times in the first quarter, and they traded goals again twice early in the second quarter to tie the score at 5-5. Ithaca then went on its five-goal run that included two goals from John Januszkiewicz and one each from Justin Bird, Kaelan Fitzpatrick and Stephen Morrell to lead 10-5.
Marywood closed to within one goal by making the score 11-10 in the fourth quarter, but insurance goals in the last four minutes from Jack Shumway and Januszkiewicz sealed the Ithaca victory.
Januszkiewicz led Ithaca's scoring efforts with four goals and two assists. Steve Danylyshyn had three goals, and James Manilla had a goal and two assists. Ithaca goalkeeper Scott Sidnam had 13 saves.
Ithaca outshot Marywood 45-34 and had 39 ground balls to just 18 for the Pacers. The Bombers dominated at the X, winning 18 of 24 face offs in the game. Three of Marywood's 10 goals came on extra-man opportunities.
The Bombers will host Oswego at Higgins Stadium on Tuesday or Wednesday of this week, and a decision on the specifics of that game will be made Monday morning based on the weather forecast.
#13 Endicott 15, Stevens 13 – Final
HOBOKEN, N.J. – The 13th-ranked Endicott College men's lacrosse team defeated Stevens Institute of Technology by a score of 15-13 Sunday afternoon at the DeBaun Athletic Complex in front of a standing-room-only crowd.
The Gulls improve to 1-0 with the win, while the Ducks drop to 1-1. Stevens will visit Eastern Connecticut State University on Wednesday afternoon beginning at 4 p.m.
After 30 minutes of action, the Gulls looked to be the better team, taking a 9-3 lead into the locker room and holding all the momentum. The guests jumped out to a 3-0 edge and led 6-2 after one, before outscoring the Ducks 3-1 in the second quarter. Senior attack Andrew Scrutchfield, sophomore midfielder Connor Towne and sophomore attack Tim Leahey accounted for the Stevens markers, with senior attack JP Giroux pocketing the Ducks' lone first-half assist.
From the midway point on, the Ducks looked like a different animal, going blow-for-blow with the favored Gulls, and ripping off six-straight scores over the first 13:35 of action in the third to tie the game at nine apiece. Leahey tallied the team's first man-up goal of the afternoon thanks to an assist from senior midfielder Michael Maroon, and less than two minutes later, sophomore Connor McKeon found Leahey for his third of the game. Midfielder Matt Ferentini found Giroux for a man-up score at 10:01 of the third, with sophomore midfielder Jake Krantz getting a man-down marker to make it a 9-7 game.
Ferentini and McKeon tallied to bring the Ducks even to the thrill of the capacity home crowd, but Endicott was able to take a 10-9 margin into the fourth thanks to a score from sophomore attack Colin Bannon.
Scrutchfield scored unassisted with 11:28 to play, and after Endicott scored 17 seconds later, Leahey's fifth of the year and fourth of the game tied things at 11 with 8:23 on the clock.
Unfortunately for the Ducks, they were unable to get over the hump, as Endicott scored four-straight goals – three coming in just 1:29 of game time – to open a 15-11 edge with 3:39 left.
Scrutchfield put away a feed from junior midfielder Michael Serrante and Giroux recorded his second of the day with 49 ticks left, but the Ducks ended up falling short by two goals.
Endicott ended with a 45-43 margin in shots, with junior goalie Austin Boyd making 17 saves for the Ducks. Stevens held a 40-31 edge in ground balls, but Endicott was victorious on 19-of-32 faceoffs.
Leahey had four goals and three ground balls to lead the attack, with Scrutchfield posting three goals and one assist. Giroux finished with three points, as McKeon and Ferentini also had multiple points for Stevens. Junior midfielder Brett Incollingo had six ground balls, while Maroon added four, Scrutchfield had five, and senior defenseman Paul Romens had three GB's with a team-high two caused turnovers.
Junior Cameron Bell made 11 saves for Endicott, and the Gulls were led by four goals, five assists and two ground balls from Bannon.