Box Score

CHESTERTOWN, Md. – Nick Purkat (Annandale, VA/W.T. Woodson) scored an extra-man goal with 11.6 seconds remaining to lift fifth-ranked Gettysburg over Dickinson 12-11 in the Centennial Conference (CC) men’s lacrosse semifinals on Friday.

Moments after Flynn Burch netted a man-down tally to knot the game at 11, Purkat took a feed from Evan Gallant (Lutherville, MD/Loyola) to the left of Red Devil goalkeeper Tom Wilson and ripped home the game-winning drive to put the Bullets (12-3) into their fourth straight CC championship game.

Gettysburg will face third-ranked Washington on Sunday at 1 p.m. The Shoremen earned the right to defend their conference crown with a 13-8 win over McDaniel in Friday’s first semifinal.

Continuing his breakout offensive play of recent weeks, Gallant tied a career high with six points. The sophomore, who scored three goals and dished out three assists, has tallied 13 of his 18 goals this season in the past five games. Chase Stewart (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) posted a hat trick and Jake Van Nostrand (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) added three assists while Pat Vaughan (Cockeysville, MD/Loyola) made 13 saves in the win.

Despite scoring more goals than in any of its previous 42 meetings with the Bullets, Dickinson (9-6) dropped its 30^th straight game in the rivalry.  Brian Read and Drew Peace paced the Red Devil attack with three goals and one assist each.

Wilson finished with 11 saves for Dickinson while face-off specialist Bernie Nolan won 17 of 24 face-offs and scooped a game-high 11 ground balls.        

Although Gettysburg never trailed after a three-goal burst in the final two minutes of the second quarter, the Bullets had to work a full 60 minutes to withstand the Red Devils and earn a shot at their eighth CC championship.

A 4-0 Dickinson run erased an early 3-0 Gettysburg lead, but Kevin Smith (Baltimore, MD/McDonogh), Stewart and Gallant scored in the final 1:45 of the second quarter to give the Bullets a 6-4 halftime lead.

John O’Bannon (Marshall, VA/Highland), whose six goals carried Gettysburg to an overtime win against McDaniel in last year’s semifinals, maintained his squad’s momentum with a goal in the first two minutes of the third quarter. Purkat finished a solo move with 10:07 left in the third to make it 8-4.

Then the Red Devils made it more-than-interesting.

Greg Welch started the rally with a cutting goal off a feed from Ed Boyd and a Nolan face-off win led to Boyd’s unassisted goal on the ensuing possession, shrinking the Bullets’ lead to 8-6.

Sean McTernan (Cordlandt Manor, NY/Hendrick Hudson) sent Gettysburg into the fourth quarter with a 9-6 lead. Peace and Read opened the final stanza with goals 20 seconds apart to pull Dickinson within 9-8, but the Bullets held the ball for the next four minutes before Stewart scored unassisted for a 10-8 lead with 8:50 to play.

Unfazed, Read and Peace again struck in short order, this time scoring goals 37 seconds apart to tie the game at 10 with 5:57 left.

The tie, however, lasted 13 seconds thanks to Campbell Henry (Chapel Hill, NC/Episcopal [VA]), who won his first face-off of the game and subsequently scored his first goal of the season to make it 11-10.

A slashing penalty to Red Devil defensemen Shaun Lorraine with 1:06 left appeared to seal the Gettysburg win, but Burch converted a Bullet turnover into the game-tying goal, set up by a transition pass from Mark Norton with 43 seconds remaining.

Gettysburg, however, maintained the man-advantage and Purkat netted the game-winner with 11.6 ticks left.

Nolan gave Dickinson a final chance by winning the ensuing face-off, but two shots from Boyd missed the mark in the final six seconds.

Behind two goals and an assist from Gallant, the Bullets built a 3-0 lead in the game’s first 5:50. Jordan Seiken got the Red Devil offense rolling with a man-up goal at the 4:54 mark of the first and Brian Mohler gave Dickinson a 4-3 lead on a one-timer from Peace with 11:34 left in the opening half.

Gettysburg will be seeking its sixth CC title in the past seven seasons when it battles Washington on Sunday. The Shoremen have won the last three meetings between the two programs. The Bullets, however, have won two of the three showdowns between the teams in the CC championship game.

 

CC Semifinals	1	2	3	4	-	F
Dickinson (9-6)	2	2	2	5	-	11
#5 Gettysburg (12-3)	3	3	3	3	-	12

Goals

Dickinson: Brian Read 3, Drew Peace 3, Brian Mohler, Ed Boyd, Greg Welch, Flynn Burch, Jordan Seiken.

Gettysburg: Evan Gallant 3, Chase Stewart 3, Nick Purkat 2, Kevin Smith, John O’Bannon, Sean McTernan, Campbell Henry.

Assists

Dickinson: Peace, Read, Boyd, Burch, Welch, Mark Norton.

Gettysburg: Jake Van Nostrand 3, Gallant 3, O’Bannon, McTernan.

Shots: D 29, G 33.

Ground Balls: D 35, G 31.

Extra-Man: D 1 of 3, G 1 of 2.

Face-Offs: D 17, G 9.

Goalies: D (Tom Wilson – 60:00, 11 saves, 12 GA), G (Pat Vaughan – 60:00, 13 saves, 11 GA).

Clearing: D 14 of 21, G 20 of 21.

Penalties: D 2 for 1:30, G 3 for 2:00.

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