GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Thanks to balanced scoring and the goaltending of freshman Tim McGinnis (Ellicott City, MD/Loyola-Blakefield), the Gettysburg men's lacrosse team is one win away from its first national championship.

 Five Bullets scored at least two goals apiece and McGinnis made 11 often-spectacular saves to lead Gettysburg past Denison 13-7 in an NCAA Division III semifinal game on Saturday at Musselman Stadium.  The Bullets will face Sunday's Nazareth-Middlebury winner in their first trip to the national championship game next Sunday, May 27 at Rutgers University.

 Pete Milliman (Rochester, NY/Brighton) netted a hat trick while fellow attackman Ric Bremer (Ridgefield, CT/John Jay [NY]) chipped in with two goals and two assists to help Gettysburg (16-1) win for the first time in four trips to the national semifinals.

 Charlie Hanchett (Annapolis, MD/Stony Brook School [NY]), Matt Twombly (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan) and Tommy Pearce (Chestertown, MD/Woodberry Forest [VA]) each scored two goals as the Bullets extended their program-record winning streak to 14 games.

 Sean O'Brien collected a team-best four points for Denison (12-4), which fell to 0-2 in national semifinal appearances and also had its winning streak snapped at eight games.

 In contrast to Gettysburg's 4-3 win over the Big Red back in March – a game in which the team set a program record for fewest goals in a win – the Bullets were able to solve the Denison defense and play with a comfortable lead for most of the second half.

 Similar to the teams' first meeting was the play of McGinnis, who helped the Bullets maintain that comfortable edge with seven second-half stops.

 Gettysburg never trailed following a goal from Hanchett with 2.2 seconds left in the first quarter that made it 4-3.  The go-ahead marker, set up by Wes Cadman (Yorktown Heights, NY/Yorktown), followed an unforced Denison turnover with 30 seconds remaining in the period.

 Pearce scored twice on patented solo runs in the second quarter as the Bullets went on a 3-1 run to stretch the lead to 7-4 with 2:43 left before halftime.

 The Big Red inched within 7-5 when Greg Mavraganis found the net on a jump shot with 25.7 seconds remaining in the half.

 After halftime, the Bullets widened the lead by dominating the possession time and letting McGinnis work his magic.

 The freshman net-minder, who entered the game with one of the top goals-against averages in Division III, made the first on a number of big second-half stops just 38 seconds into the third quarter before Milliman scored at 12:23 for an 8-5 lead.

 McGinnis made another key save minutes later and Twombly capped a great solo effort from Jake Van Nostrand (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) to make it 9-5 at 6:47.  On the play, Van Nostrand knocked down a pass in his own zone and fed a cutting Twombly on the left doorstep.

 McGinnis stopped a pair of extra-man shots on Denison's next man-up opportunity before Milliman scored the Bullets' lone extra-man goal of the day off a feed from Bremer with 2:05 left in the quarter.

 Jon Staunton beat McGinnis to pull the Big Red within 10-6 with 24.3 seconds left in the third, but Denison would get no closer the rest of the way.

 Rich Sharp (Acton, MA/Acton-Boxborough) scored off the opening faceoff of the fourth quarter and Milliman and Bremer scored 3 minutes, 4 seconds apart to give the home squad a 13-6 lead with 7:42 left.

 O'Brien tallied an unassisted goal at 7:25, but the Bullets possessed the ball for a majority of the game's final minutes to seal the historic victory.

 Goals from Twombly, Hanchett and Bremer in the game's opening 8:36 stake the Bullets to a 3-1 lead.  Kevin Sullivan scored following a scramble in the Gettysburg zone at 4:41 and Ryan Berger one-timed a pass from O'Brien a little of three minutes later to tie the game at 3.

 Van Nostrand finished with a goal and two assists for Gettysburg.  Sullivan and Berger each added a goal and an assist for Denison while goalie Peter Royer finished with six saves.

 The Bullets, now 7-11 in 18 NCAA tournament games, will make their first-ever appearance in the NCAA Division III championship game in the program's 12th appearance in the NCAA tournament.  Gettysburg is 2-0 all-time against defending national champion Middlebury and 0-2 all-time against undefeated Nazareth.
 
 

Goals:

Denison: Sean O'Brien 2, Andy Mcilwaine, Kevin Sullivan, Ryan Berger, Jon Staunton, Greg Mavraganis.

Gettysburg: Pete Milliman 3, Charlie Hanchett 2, Tommy Pearce 2, Ric Bremer 2, Matt Twombly 2, Rich Sharp, Jake Van Nostrand.

Assists:

Denison: O'Brien 2, Sullivan, Berger.

Gettysburg: Van Nostrand 2, Bremer 2, Sharp, Milliman, Chris Baran, Mike Bevilacqua, Wes Cadman.

Shots: Denison 33, Gettysburg 38.

Ground Balls: Denison 40, Gettysburg 41.

Extra-Man: Denison 1 of 6, Gettysburg 1 of 2.

Faceoffs: Denison 12, Gettysburg 10.

Goalies: Denison (Peter Royer – 60 minutes, 6 saves, 13 GA), Gettysburg (Tim McGinnis – 60 minutes, 11 saves, 7 GA).

Clearing: Denison 22 of 26, Gettysburg 18 of 22.

Penalties: Denison 2 for 2:00, Gettysburg 6 for 5:00.

Attendance: 1,358.

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