Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Seniors Jake Van Nostrand (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) and Matt Twombly (New Canaan, CT/New Canaan) combined for five goals and seven assists to lead fifth-ranked Gettysburg over No. 18 Cabrini 18-2 in the second round of the 2004 NCAA Division III men’s lacrosse championships on Sunday.

 Van Nostrand tallied a hat trick and dished out four assists, matching his career high of seven points and helping the Bullets (14-3) post their largest victory margin in an NCAA tournament game. Twombly collected a career-high five points (2 goals, 3 assists) as Gettysburg ran its winning streak to nine games.

 With the win, the Bullets advance to face Washington (Md.) in the national quarterfinals on Wednesday in Chestertown. The Shoremen moved forward with a 9-8 victory over Whittier on Saturday. Wednesday’s game will mark the third meeting between Gettysburg and Washington this season.

 Bullet goalie Pat Vaughan (Cockeysville, MD/Loyola) continued his standout freshman campaign on Sunday, recording 11 saves while allowing only two goals against Division III’s seventh-best scoring offense in his NCAA debut.

 Dave Barba and Steve Hill scored for the Cavaliers (14-3), who saw their seven-game winning streak come to an end. Goalie Antonio Masone made eight saves in the loss.

 Behind one of its most dominant efforts in an NCAA tournament game, Gettysburg kept alive its dreams of a national title.

 Bullet face-off specialist Chris Renzi (Fairport, NY/Fairport) set the tone for the day, winning the opening draw, collecting a Cabrini turnover and scoring his first collegiate goal just 19 seconds into the game.

 Cavalier face-off man Greg Cleaver won the next one, but Vaughan turned aside a shot from Kevin Rayer on Cabrini’s first possession for his first NCAA save.

Van Nostrand, like many of his classmates a veteran of two national championship games among seven prior NCAA contests, started his scoring day by setting up Evan Gallant (Lutherville, MD/Loyola) for a 2-0 lead with 10:32 left in the first quarter. The assist was the 100th of Van Nostrand’s career, making him just the third Bullet to accomplish the feat.

 Chase Stewart (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) tallied the first of his three goals off a Twombly assist at 8:10, giving the sophomore his first 40-goal season. Twombly followed with both of his goals in a span of fewer than four minutes to make it 5-0 by the end of the first quarter.

 The Gettysburg barrage continued throughout the second 15 minutes. Nick Purkat (Annandale, VA/W.T. Woodson), Kevin Freehill (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) and Jon Sowanick (Bethesda, MD/Bullis) scored in a stretch of 3 minutes, 25 seconds to extend the lead to 8-0.

 A minute after Sowanick’s goal, Kevin Smith (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh) finished a solo run for a 9-0 lead. Van Nostrand set up John O’Bannon (Marshall, VA/Highland School) at 2:25 and scored off a Purkat feed with 28 ticks left to close out the 11-goal first half.

 Defensively, Vaughan halted three of the four Cavalier shots he faced in the second quarter. Gettysburg outshot Cabrini 23-7 in the first half.

 Two goals from Stewart and one from Van Nostrand in a 1-minute, 51-second span pushed the lead to 14-0 midway through the third before Hill put the Cavaliers on the board with 7:52 left in the quarter. Barba scored the Cavaliers’ other goal 25 seconds later.

 In addition to his first collegiate goal, Renzi won 11 of 16 face-offs on the day and scooped a team-high nine of the Bullets’ 53 ground balls. Freehill’s goal was also the first of his collegiate career.

 With his seven-point outing, Van Nostrand moved into third place on the program’s all-time career points list with 219. Vaughan improved his save total to 219 this season, the third-highest single-season total in program history behind Gary Robinson (285 in 1980) and Tim McGinnis (231 in 2002).

Gettysburg improved to 10-13 all-time in NCAA games. The Bullets have reached the national quarterfinals in each of their last 13 NCAA appearances.

Gettysburg and Washington split their two previous meetings this season. The Shoremen won 9-4 during the regular season while the Bullets posted a 7-6 win in the Centennial Conference championship game on May 9. The two programs have met only once before in the NCAA tournament, a 10-9 Washington victory in the 1997 semifinals.
 

NCAA Second Round	1	2	3	4	-	F
#18 Cabrini (14-3)	0	0	2	0	-	2
#5 Gettysburg (14-3)	5	6	5	2	-	18

Goals:

Cabrini: Dave Barba, Steve Hill.

Gettysburg: Jake Van Nostrand 3, Chase Stewart 3, Matt Twombly 2, Evan Gallant 2, Jon Sowanick 2, Nick Purkat, Kevin Smith, John O’Bannon, Chris Renzi, Kevin Freehill, Trip Dyer.

Assists:

Cabrini: None.

Gettysburg: Van Nostrand 4, Twombly 3, Gallant, Purkat.

Shots: C 24, G 40.

Ground Balls: C 25, G 53.

Extra-Man: C 0 of 2, G 2 of 5.

Faceoffs: C 7, G 17.

Goalies: C (Antonio Masone – 60:00, 8 saves, 18 GA), G (Pat Vaughan – 53:47, 11 saves, 2 GA; James Desson – 4:23, 0 saves, 0 GA; Stuart Brown – 1:50, 0 saves, 0 GA).

Clearing: C 15 of 22, G 18 of 20.

Turnovers: C 26, G 27.

Penalties: C 5 for 4:00, G 2 for 1:00.

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