Box Score

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The 14th-ranked Gettysburg College men's lacrosse team geared up for Centennial Conference play with another solid defensive performance, topping Widener University 9-3 in a non-league tilt Saturday afternoon at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
 
The Bullets (4-3), who play their conference opener next Saturday, led just 4-2 with 8:12 left in the third quarter but pulled away with a game-ending 5-1 run.
 
Gettysburg has now limited its last two opponents to just nine goals after defeating Eastern 13-6 last Saturday.
 
The Bullets, who outshot Widener 48-19, received a balanced offensive attack, with sophomores Blake Gray (Reisterstown, Md./McDonogh School), Jack Harvey (New Providence, N.J./New Providence), and Tommy Heller (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) scoring two goals apiece and senior Reed Barbe (Greenwich, Conn./Suffield Academy) posting one goal and two assists.
 
Defensively, sophomore long-stick midfielder Chris Verdeur (Villanova, Pa./Shipley Schoool) scooped five ground balls while freshman defenseman Mitch Wykoff (Fairfield, Conn./Fairfield Ludlowe) notched three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Junior Connor Sweeney (Great Falls, Va./Potomac School) won 7-of-9 face-offs while freshman Connor Hunt (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) went 4-of-7 at the X.
 
Brady Franks and Tyler Schulte posted one goal and one assist apiece for Widener (2-4) while Matt Horton finished with 13 saves.
 
The Bullets never trailed after scoring twice less than a minute apart early in the game. Barbe scored 1:35 into the game before Heller struck with 12:44 on the clock. Gettysburg would outshoot the Pride 9-1 in the opening quarter but led just 2-0 after 15 minutes of play.
 
The Orange and Blue continued its assault on the net in the second quarter, when it outshot the Pride 18-5. However, Horton made six stops in the period and it remained a two-goal game until Kevin Kerby put Widener on the scoreboard with 2:59 showing. Senior Sean Fumai (Weston, Conn./Weston) answered for the Bullets with 1:26 to go, giving the hosts a 3-1 halftime advantage.
 
Gray made it 4-1 when he scored with 9:44 left in the third quarter before Schulte pulled the Pride to within two, scoring a man-up goal with 8:12 remaining. However, the Bullets answered with a 3-0 spurt, starting with another goal from Gray that put his team up 5-2 heading into the fourth quarter.
 
Heller netted his second goal 1:15 into the final period before sophomore Will DeMartin (Summit, N.J./Saint Peter's Prep) capped the surge with a man-down tally, marking his first collegiate goal and giving the Bullets a 7-2 advantage with 9:54 left. After a Franks man-up goal 21 seconds later, Harvey tacked on a pair of insurance goals for the Bullets, first going coast-to-coast for another Bullet man-down marker, then striking with 2:24 left to set the final score.
 
Gettysburg hosts 12th-ranked Ursinus College at 1 p.m. next Saturday in a rematch of the last two Centennial Conference championship games.