SWARTHMORE, Pa. – Matt Twombly (New Canaan,
CT/New Canaan) netted his first collegiate hat trick
as fifth-ranked Gettysburg erupted for six second-quarter
goals to defeat Swarthmore 8-4 in Centennial Conference (CC)
men’s lacrosse action on Wednedsay.
Twombly scored twice off feeds from Jake
Van Nostrand (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) in the decisive
quarter to lift the Bullets (4-1, 1-0 CC) to their 35th straight
conference victory. Kevin Smith (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh)
also found the net twice to key the win.
Joseph DiSimone netted
a pair of goals for the Garnet (2-3, 0-1 CC) while goalie
Ryan Croken made 17 saves against 45 Gettysburg
shots.
The Bullets never trailed after Peter
Politi (Wilton, CT/Wilton) tallied an unassisted marker
3 minutes, 2 seconds into the game. Twombly made it 2-0 with
8:08 left in the first quarter, but Jeff Donlea
answered for Swarthmore off an assist from John Murphy.
Twombly and DeSimone traded goals for
a 3-2 Gettysburg lead early in the second quarter before the
visitors exploded for the game-sealing run.
Seventeen seconds after DeSimone’s goal,
Smith scored to start the 5-0 burst and make it 4-2. Twombly
finished his hat trick off a Van Nostrand feed and John
O’Bannon (Marshall, VA/Highland) cashed in his fourth
goal of the season for a 6-2 lead.
Smith struck again with 4:00 left in
the half, giving him five goals in the squad’s first five
games of the season. Sean McTernan (Cortlandt Manor,
NY/Hendrick Hudson) capped the run with a goal just
26 seconds before the break to make it 8-2.
Croken and the Garnet defense kept the
Bullets in check after halftime, but Swarthmore could only
manage second-half goals from Tim Chryssikos
and DeSimone, the latter coming with 17 seconds remaining.
The Garnet finished 2-for-8 on extra-man
opportunities while Gettysburg went 0-for-5 in man-up situations.
The Bullets return to action on Saturday
at Muhlenberg. Game time is 4 p.m. The Mules are playing their
first varsity season since 1980.
| Score by Quarter |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
- |
F |
| #5 Gettysburg (4-1, 1-0 CC) |
2 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
- |
8 |
| Swarthmore (2-3, 0-1 CC) |
1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
- |
4 |
Goals:
Gettysburg: Matt Twombly 3, Kevin Smith
2, Peter Politi, John O’Bannon, Sean McTernan.
Swarthmore: Joseph Desimone 2, Jeff
Donlea, Tim Chryssikos.
Assists:
Gettysburg: Jake Van Nostrand 2, Nick
Purkat, Chase Stewart.
Swarthmore: John Murphy, Tom Coughlin.
Shots: Gettysburg 45, Swarthmore 29.
Ground Balls: Gettysburg 39, Swarthmore
29.
Extra-Man: Gettysburg 0 of 7, Swarthmore
2 of 8.
Faceoffs: Gettysburg 10, Swarthmore
6.
Goalies: Gettysburg (Tim McGinnis –
60:00, 13 saves, 4 GA), Swarthmore (Ryan Croken – 60:00, 17
saves, 8 GA).
Clearing: N/A.
Penalties: Gettysburg 8 for 6:30, Swarthmore
7 for 6:30.
Attendance: 179.
-30-
