DOVER, DE – Despite a furious comeback,
the York College men's lacrosse team was ousted from the
Capital Athletic Conference tournament Monday evening by way of a
13-11 loss to Wesley. The Spartans, who still have one regular
season contest remaining, now stand at 7-7 on the year, while the
Wolverines move-on and improve to a solid 10-4.
Down 12-4 with less than two minutes to go in the third, the
Green and White rallied for two scores to close out the period.
Sophomore attack Josh Gamble (Easton, Md./Easton)
tallied with only 1:31 to play in the third before fellow attack
Ryan McNicholas (Fallston, Md./Fallston) posted
his third of the game with 46 seconds on the clock.
The fourth frame began much how the third ended as York opened
the final period with a goal by Gamble to cut the lead to 12-7 with
14:03 to play.
Gamble recorded back-to-back tallies as he scored again exactly
two minutes later on a McNicholas assist.
Bradford Blaker (West Chester, Pa./Henderson)
made it a 5-0 Spartan run with his 22nd of the year with 8:01
showing on the fourth quarter clock. In under nine minutes, the
Green and White had sliced deep into Wesley's lead from 12-4
to 12-9.
The Wolverines' Justin Thompson broke-up the Spartan run
with a tally at the 6:39 mark, opening up a four-goal Wolverine
advantage.
York struck back 57 seconds later with an Adam Cooper
(Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) score. Short-stick specialist
Zach Scherr (Reisterstown, Md./Franklin) won the
face-off after Thompson's goal, before Gamble assisted on
Cooper's seventh of 2009.
The Spartans continued to put pressure on the home squad as
McNicholas then slashed Wesley's lead to a mere two. With
4:47 to play the Spartans found themselves down by a manageable
13-11.
However, the Wolverine defense shut out the visitors over that
final span as York was only able to fire off three more shots in
the game.
Wesley buried the Spartans under a 6-0 first quarter lead and
would stretch that advantage to as much as 12-4 in the third
period. York did notch seven of the game's final eight goals
but it was simply not enough to overcome the deficit.
Thompson paced the Wolverines with five points on four goals and
one assist. Justin D'Alonzo added three scores for the home
team while Brad Smith and Joe Trezza each chipped in two tallies.
Defensive standout Kirk Waldie picked up a game-high eleven ground
balls for Wesley. Jim McCleaft played yet another solid game in the
cage as he made eleven saves over his 60 minutes of work.
Gamble and McNicholas posted stellar offensive games as each
tallied five points on four goals and one assist. Both now stand at
a team-leading 29 goals for the season while Gamble leads the squad
with 16 helpers. Scherr collected ten ground balls while performing
exceptionally well in face-offs. The junior won 16-of-24, securing
much needed possession for the Green and White. Midfielder
John Gaeta (Bel Air, Md./Archbishop Curley) also
picked up five ground balls. Goalkeeper Chris Collins
(Westminster, Md./Westminster) registered nine saves over
his 58:46 of action while Mike Karwoski (Phoenixville,
Pa./Phoenixville) was not forced to make a stop in his
1:14 between the pipes.
The Spartans will close out their 2009 campaign on Tuesday,
April 21. York hosts former CAC foe Catholic in a rematch of last
year's contest which York won 10-9 in seven overtimes. The
Green and White, who will also celebrate Senior Day on the 21st,
and the Cardinals will square off at 4:00 pm.
GAME BOX
Zach Scherr photo courtesy of Steve Doemland (www.stevedoemland.com)
