Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 2/18/18
For the first time since 2012, the University of Delaware men’s lacrosse are 2-0.
That comes after a stifling defensive effort by the Blue Hens (2-0) in an 11-6 victory over the Highlanders of NJIT (0-4) on a cold Saturday afternoon at Delaware Stadium.
“I’m proud of our guys for finding a way today. It wasn’t our best game and we certainly have some things to work on, but there were a lot of guys who did good things today,” Head Coach Ben DeLuca said. “Our defensive effort was great today, led by Matty [DeLuca] and Austin [Haynes, Moorestown]. I was really pleased with our aggressiveness and the way we communicated on the defensive end.”
Matt DeLuca posted his eighth career double-digit save performance of his career with 14 on the day, the third highest single game total of his career. The six goals allowed is the second fewest allowed by the Blue Hens in the past two-plus seasons. Haynes was charged with covering NJIT’s most potent player and limited him to just two goals, while causing two turnovers and picking up four ground balls.
Offensively, senior Will Hirschmann led the way once again, with his second straight hat trick, finishing with three goals and assist on the day. Through the first two games, the Annapolis, Md. native has seven goals and four assists.
Classmate Andrew Romagnoli extended his scoring streak to 21 games with two goals and an assist. The streak is currently the 14th longest active streak in the country.
“I thought our communication defensively was better today,” Matt DeLuca said. “They are a scramble team, so we had to really be tight on our communication and slides and I thought we did a better job of that today than we had been doing.”
Both defenses shined early on with neither team finding the back of the net in the first 10 minutes, despite the Blue Hens firing off nine shots in that stretch.
NJIT got on the board first, but less than five minutes later Hirschmann fired one home to tie things at 1-1 after the first quarter.
Defense continued to be the theme of the game until Kitchen, who assisted on the Blue Hens’ first goal, slid one past the NJIT keeper to make it 2-1.
After the Highlanders responded, Romagnoli sent Delaware into halftime with a 3-2 lead with his third goal of the season.
The Blue Hens would take over in the third quarter with Joe Eisele (St. Augustine Prep) scoring five minutes into the period to push the lead to 4-2. Hirschmann would score twice in the next three minutes and classmate Dean DiSimone (St. Augustine Prep) would score 40 seconds later to cap the 4-0 run and extend the Blue Hens’ cushion to 7-2.
NJIT wouldn’t go quietly scoring three straight, but goals from Bryce Reid (Avon Grove) and Charlie Kitchen (St. Augustine Prep) would put the game out of reach and ultimately secure the 11-6 victory.
Fairfield 11, St. Joe’s 6
Will Fox (St. Augustine Prep-NJ) won 17 of 21 faceoffs and scored once, Sean McKee (Penn Charter) posted 12 saves and Drew Murray (Penn Charter) scored once as the Stags improved to 1-1 and spoiled the host Hawks’ opener.
In his return to the field after being sidelined by injury last season, graduate student attackman Mike Rastivo scored twice. Senior midfielder Kyle Cain led all Hawks in scoring with three points on two goals and an assist while, in his collegiate debut, sophomore goalkeeper Mike Adler made 10 saves in the full-game effort.
Jason Kelly (Salesianum School) had a goal and an assist and defenseman Brendan McNicholas (Avon Grove) scooped five groundballs for the Hawks.
Penn State 15, Stony Brook 8
The Lions used an impressive faceoff performance from sophomore Gerard Arceri and defenseman Chris Sabia (Haverford School, 3 GB, 1 goal, 1 CT) to take down visiting Stony Brook in the first regular season game played in the newly minted Panzer Stadium on a snowy afternoon.
Arceri finished the game winning 20 of his 27 faceoff attempts, adding 16 ground balls, and three points with two goals and his first career assist.
Penn State also got an impressive performance from junior Kevin Hill as he put in a game-high four goals on just five shots. Sophomore Mac O’Keefe finished three goals, while freshman Bobby Burns, junior Nick Spillane, and sophomore Dylan Foulds all added two points. Burns and Foulds each added one goal and one assist, while Spillane dished out two dimes.