No. 18 Men's Lacrosse Impressive In 20-2 Rout of Alvernia

(box score)

No. 18 Widener scored the game's first 16 goals and continued its dominance of Alvernia with a 20-2 Commonwealth Conference win at Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium.

Widener, which made the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Poll this week, put things out of reach in the first quarter with a seven spot thanks to a 15-6 shots edge. Josh Fox (Wynnewood, PA) got things rolling with two goals in the first 4 1/2 minutes before fellow senior Johnny Casey (Glenside, PA) tallied with 5:35 left for a 3-0 lead.

Tim Taylor (Philadelphia, PA) found the back of the net with 3:55 remaining and fellow freshman Ryan McDonald (Yardley, PA) followed suit 30 seconds later for a 5-0 margin. Taylor again scored with 2:29 to play in the quarter and Casey added another with 1:52 left for a 7-0 margin.

The Pride were not done as they scored three more in the second quarter for a 10-0 lead, closing a half in which they posted a 22-14 shots advantage and won 9-of-12 face-offs. Taylor, Kyle Gratz (Worthington, OH) and fellow freshman Marc LaVine (Nashua, NH) tallied in that span.

Widener, winners of five straight, was denied its fourth shutout in school history when Jared Toll scored with 4:08 remaining. That ended a run in which the Pride scored 32 consecutive goals against the Crusaders, which included a 15-0 blanking in Alvernia one year ago to the day.

Fox ended with four goals and two assists, Casey had three goals and two assists with Taylor getting three goals for the Pride. Junior Robert Clemens (Aston, PA) dished three assists, freshman Nick Rodgers (Aurora, IL) won 11-of-14 face-offs with sophomore Andrew Buckley (Lumberton, NJ), freshman Ryan McDonald (Yardley, PA) and sophomore Bryan Ziegler (Telford, PA) each getting two goals.

Junior Mac Nestler (Chatham, NJ) made three saves over 15 minutes and senior Bobby Schluter (Kennett Square, PA) came on to stop three shots over the next 30 minutes for Widener.

Brandon Weaver made 12 saves and Toll added another tally for the Crusaders (4-9, 0-4 CC)

Widener returns to action Saturday at Lycoming, starting at 1:00 pm in Williamsport, PA.

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