Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Sophomore attackman Danny Collura (Cincinnati, Ohio/St. Xavier) scored a career-high four goals, and senior goalie Pat Vaughan (Cockeysville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) stopped 15-of-18 shots on goal to help No. 2 Gettysburg to a 9-3 victory against Denison in non-conference action at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Bullets' (2-0) junior midfielder Ben Sufrin (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) added a career-high three points with a goal and two assists to help Gettysburg score nine goals against a team that had only given up five in two previous games.

Vaughan was the backbone of a defense that held the Big Red (2-1) 14.5 goals below its season average entering the game. Vaughan also moved into the top five on the Gettysburg career saves list. With 609 stops, he has one more than three-time All-American Tim McGinnis had from 2001-03. Junior attackman Topher Nazaruk and freshman attackman Brady Burton, who had combined for 18 points in the previous two games, were held to two points each. Both players scored a goal and added an assist. Junior goalie Alex Baruch made 13 saves for Denison.

The game was a defensive struggle throughout, but especially so in the first quarter. Gettysburg junior attackman Trip Dyer (Ocean View, Del./Worcester Prep [Md.]) scored just 1:34 into the contest, converting a pass from Sufrin. Dyer would later add a pair of assists for three points. That would be the last score by either team for more than 11 minutes, however. Nazaruk fed Burton, who fired at point-blank shot from Vaughan's left that he had no chance to stop. Burton's score tied the game at 1-1, which is how the first quarter would end.

Just 1:20 into the second quarter, Collura struck for the first of his four goals. He picked up a loose ball behind the net and wrapped it around the right post, unassisted. The lead would only hold for 1:22, though. The Bullets were called for unnecessary roughness at the 12:54 mark, and Burton fed a pass from 10 yards out at Vaughan's left to freshman midfielder Brian Bienemann at the back door for a perfect man-up strike.

With the game tied at 2-2, Gettysburg went on a 6-0 run that covered 29:11 and parts of three quarters. Collura scored with 11:09 remaining before halftime, and just under a minute later, Sufrin tallied what would prove to be the game winner.

The Bullets' fifth goal of the day was easily their most improbable. Sophomore attackman Drew Duckworth (Rye, N.Y./Hotchkiss School [Conn.]) lost control of the ball near the Gettysburg bench. He was able to corral it as he was falling out of bounds and flip it behind his back into the center of the field. It went to Collura near the left post on one bounce, and he took two steps toward the far sideline and scooped the ball into the net just inches off the ground.

Duckworth would set up Collura's final goal with 5:14 remaining in the third quarter as well, before senior midfielder Jimmy Gates (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) won a faceoff and took it in for the score. Gates won 12-of-15 faceoffs on the day, although it appeared he would lose this one. His opponent pulled the ball into an open area of the field and had a step on Gates. Another Gettysburg player tangled with two Denison midfielders, and Gates came into the pile and emerged with the ball. He ran virtually uncontested until he was about 10 yards out, and he then ran right through two defenders for the tally. Gates also set a career high with eight ground balls, a game-high mark that was matched by junior defenseman Andrew McGann (Laguna, Calif./Holderness School [N.H.]). McGann equaled his personal best, which he set early in the 2005 season at Hampden-Sydney.

In the fourth quarter, senior midfielder Kevin Freehill (Baldwin, N.Y./Baldwin) sandwiched a pair of scores around an unassisted goal by Nazaruk to set the final score.

Gettysburg will return to action on Wednesday when the Bullets play host to Marymount at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium. The opening faceoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.