ASHLAND,VA-The York College men's lacrosse team dropped their first game of the year as Randolph-Macon College downed the Spartans 15-8 in a non-conference contest on Friday afternoon in Ashland, VA. Randolph-Macon improves to 1-1 while the Spartans are now 1-1 after the loss.
The green and white found themselves down 4-1 after the first period as sophomore Josh Papsan (Baltimore, MD/North Carroll) scored the Spartans' lone goal with 13:09 left in the first. After Papsan's goal, Randolph-Macon scored the next eight goals to take a 9-1 lead. Freshman Keegan Mathe (Arlington Heights, IL/Mt. Hebron, MD) scored the Spartans' second goal just 2:50 before the half to cut the lead to 9-2 at the intermission.
Randolph-Macon scored the first four goals of the third period to take the 13-2 advantage with 18:22 remaining in the game. The Spartans scored the final goal of the third quarter and the first goal of the fourth to trim their deficit to 13-4. Randolph-Macon scored at the 12:18 mark of the fourth quarter to push their advantage back up to 10 goals. The Spartans made the final score respectable as the green and white scored four of the final five goals of the game. Freshman Ben Bereznay (Red Lion, PA/Mt. Hebron, MD) scored two of the goals on the run to raise his team-leading total to seven.
Freshman Matt Hanson (Marriottsville, MD/River Hill) and sophomore Dave Welti (Stroudsburg, PA/Hicksville) split the game in goal for YCP. Hanson played the first half and allowed nine goals on 23 shots with seven saves. Welti faced 14 shots and allowed six goals with five saves. Brian Vierheller played the first 45 minutes of the game for Randolph-Macon as he limited YCP to three goals on 20 shots with nine saves. James Schiefer played the final 15 minutes of the game for RMC and he allowed five goals on 13 shots with four saves.
Papsan and Bereznay each tallied two goals to lead the Spartans. Adam Cross (Westminster, MD/Westminster), Dan DeBonis (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa), Mathe, and Brian Porter (Bel Air, MD/C. Milton Wright) each scored a single goal for the green and white. Cross and DeBonis each added an assist for YCP.
P.C. Johnsen tallied five goals and two assists to lead Randolph-Macon. Michael Dunn and Joe Fluery each contributed three goals while Brendan Toone chipped in with two goals. Andrew Tidball scored a goal and dished out a game-high three assists.
Randolph-Macon outshot the Spartans 37-33 but YCP held a significant 63-46 advantage in ground balls. The green and white also won 19 of 27 face offs for the game.
The Spartans return to action on Wednesday as they host Goucher College in the green and white's Capital Athletic Conference opener. Game time at Spartan Stadium is set for 3:30 pm.