Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Freshman attackman Joe Brody (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) tied his career high with four goals and helped No. 2 Gettysburg to an 11-4 victory in the 2007 Centennial Conference (CC) Men's Lacrosse Championship at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium on Sunday afternoon. It is the Bullets' fourth straight title and 11th in the 14-year history of the conference. Head coach Hank Janczyk has now won 250 games in 20 seasons as the mentor at Gettysburg.

Brody tallied four goals for the fourth time in his last five games. Since breaking into the starting lineup on Mar. 28, he has accounted for 28 goals and seven assists for 35 points in 10 games. Sophomore attackman Rob Triplett (McLean, Va./McLean) and senior captain Greg Montgomery (Asheville, N.C./St. Andrew's School [Del.]) each had two assists, and junior defenseman Andrew McGann (Laguna, Calif./Holderness School [N.H.]) netted his first career goal.

Gettysburg (14-2) senior goalie Pat Vaughan (Cockeysville, Md./Loyola Blakefield) won his 60th career game, and stopped six shots to move into a tie for second on the Gettysburg career saves list.
His counterpart at the other end of the field, Washington (11-6) sophomore Gordon Cohen, made 14 saves in a 37-shot onslaught by Gettysburg. Sophomore midfielder Casey O'Connor netted a pair of goals to pace the Shoremen offense.

The Bullets had a 37-18 shots advantage in the game, including a 26-8 margin in the second half despite Washington winning 6-of-8 faceoffs after the break. Both teams were perfect on the penalty kill with Gettysburg shutting out three Shoremen extra-man opportunities while being held scoreless on five of their own.

Brody opened the scoring by taking advantage of a big Washington miscue with just 4:50 gone. As the Shoremen tried to clear the ball, a pass near the top of the crease was mishandled. Brody scooped it up and beat Cohen point-blank for the 1-0 advantage.

It took the home team just 36 seconds to strike again. Triplett zipped a long pass from the top of the box on the right side of the field to junior attackman Trip Dyer (Ocean View, Del./Worcester Prep [Md.]) at the left post. Gettysburg tacked another marker on with 5:07 remaining in the first quarter as both Montgomery and sophomore attackman Zach Pucci (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) crashed the net. Montgomery drew Cohen to the right post and set up Pucci with a quick pass to the left, giving Pucci a wide-open net to hit. That would be all of the scoring for the first quarter.

The Shoremen showed a burst of life early in the second quarter. O'Connor emerged from a scrum trying to corral a loose ball just on the Gettysburg side of midfield near the left sideline and streaked 35 yards uncontested for a 1-on-0 goal against Vaughan.

Just over two minutes later, O'Connor struck again. Two Gettysburg defenders stood up junior attackman Chris Read, who entered and weekend as the CC's third leader scorer, and forced him to drop the ball less than 10 yards from the crease. O'Connor picked up the loose ball and used Read as a pick to get open for a hard shot from head on, pulling Washington within one goal at 3-2. The Bullets held Read without a point in the game.

With 5:31 to go in the first half, Gettysburg junior midfielder Stu Whelehan (Perry Hall, Md./Loyola Blakefield) cleared the ball after a Vaughan save and fired a shot off the turf from 15 yards that found its way under the crossbar. The two-goal edge was short-lived, however, as junior midfielder Steve Humphries got the goal back for the Shoremen just 31 seconds later.

It appeared that the Bullets would have to be content with a one-goal lead at halftime, but a caused turnover and some crisp passing led to a tally with just one second showing on the clock. Sophomore midfielder Tommy Kehoe (Coraopolis, Pa./Sewickley Academy) forced a turnover halfway between midfield and the top of the box. It was picked up on the run by senior midfielder Andrew Mavraganis (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield), who crossed into the Shoremen end and passed to Dyer in the left side of the box about 15 yards out. He zipped a pass to sophomore attackman Drew Duckworth (Rye, N.Y./Hotchkiss School [Conn.]) on the right side near the goal line. Duckworth turned the pass around to Kehoe coming down the center of the field. He took two steps to his right and buried the eventual game winner.

Gettysburg sealed it with four straight goals in the first 17:10 of the second half. Washington junior midfielder Kolyn Kirby broke up the run on a goal in transition with just under 10 minutes to go, but Brody returned the favor 25 seconds later.

On the ensuing faceoff, no one could get control of the ball, which made it all the way into the Gettysburg end before McGann was able to scoop it up on a dead sprint. He took it all the way down the field and used a bounced shot to score the game's final goal.

The Bullets have secured the CC's automatic berth to the NCAA playoffs and will await Sunday night's selection show to find out the date and opponent for their first game. The selection show can be seen on CSTV at 9 p.m. There will also be an audio simulcast at www.cstv.com.