Men’s Lacrosse Rallies for 7-5 Victory at Albright in Commonwealth Conference Final

(box score) / (Brendan Dawson interview)

Widener scored the contest's last seven goals and eradicated a five-goal deficit to win the inaugural Commonwealth Conference title, 7-5 at Albright in Reading, PA.

Widener (9-7) captured its 14th conference title with the first 13 coming in the Middle Atlantic Conference and now is 24-3 in conference tournament games. It will face Eastern on Saturday at 1:00 pm in St. Davids, PA for the MAC's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament.

Eastern won the Freedom Conference title, 15-6 today over FDU-Florham. This is the first year the MAC was split into two conferences.

The Pride's comeback began with the last three goals of the first half for a 5-3 deficit. Sophomore Robert Clemens (Aston, PA) had a goal and two assists with freshman Kyle Blakemore (Ridley Park, PA) getting a goal and an assist.

The third quarter was an offensive struggle as both teams defense really tightened and refused to budge. Albright's defense was breached 1:42 into the period as Josh Fox (Wynnewood, PA) scored off a pass from fellow junior Johnny Casey (Glenside, PA) for a 5-4 contest.

Blakemore, who ended with 13 shots, leveled the match at 5-5 with 12:26 to play when he rocketed one past Andrew Torak.

The stalemate continued with both defenses again standing tall. But Clemens gave Widener the lead for good, firing one home with 5:33 to go for a 6-5 lead.

Senior Michael Bassani (Califon, NJ) then came up with a huge caused turnover in the Lions zone, stripping Michael Donohoe and getting the ground ball. Widener then called timeout and Albright came out deciding to bring Torak out to challenge for a turnover. That strategy failed as senior Mark Kane (Morton, PA) found an open net with 2:34 left for a 7-5 cushion.

Junior Charlie Bytheway (Glen Mills, PA) then forced Dan Foote to commit a turnover with roughly 90 seconds left that made things academic.

Clemens had two goals and two assists, Blakemore recorded two and one and sophomore Mac Nestler (Chatham, NJ) made six saves for the Pride, who have won seven straight.

Albright's offense, which had scored 102 second-half goals in 18 contests entering today, was non-existent after the intermission as it was outshot 19-8 over the final 30 minutes and 43-18 overall.

Foote closed with a goal and an assist with Torak making nine saves for the Lions (16-3).

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