CHESTER, Pa. (Apr. 18, 2015) – Behind a
Marc LaVine (Nashua, N.H.) hat-trick, the Widener men's lacrosse team pulled off 5-4 upset over Commonwealth-rival Messiah on Saturday night at Leslie C. Quick Stadium.
With the win, the Pride improve to 5-8 on the season and 4-2 in league play including four of their last five games. The Falcons drop to 9-4 on the year and 4-2 in conference action.
Junior midfielder
Anthony Cipriano (Kendall Park, N.J.) commenced the scoring in the seventh minute of play for his fourth goal of the year. The visitors knotted the score just over three minutes into the second quarter on a Justin Bradley unassisted tally. A few minutes later in the 23rd minute, junior attacker
Tim Taylor (Philadelphia, Pa.) found LaVine for his first score of the day. Bradley once again tied the score with an unassisted goal just 57 seconds later. But the Pride entered the intermission with a 3-2 advantage as LaVine beat the Falcon goalie for his second of the contest and 18th of the season.
Cipriano registered his second of the day after freshman midfielder
Patrick Richardson (Westville, N.J.) fed him for the score. With 2:23 remaining in the third quarter, Messiah's Blacke Knobloch and Tyler Goglio teamed up for a man-up goal to bring their squad within one, but LaVine topped off his scoring with just under five minutes to play in the game to give his squad the edge it needed. Goglio once again brought the Falcons back within one with 1:03 left on the clock, but Widener controlled the ball for the final minute of play to secure the 5-4 victory.
Junior
Tyler McClary (Galena, Ohio) recorded a game-high 10 saves in cage, while Sam Stengel and Brooks Arnold combined for five saves for Messiah.
Messiah held a 27-23 advantage on shots, including a 14-10 mark on goal. Widener scooped up 23 goals to the Falcons' 18, and Messiah won seven of 13 face-offs on the day.
The Pride are back in action on Tuesday, Apr. 21 for a Commonwealth tilt at Arcadia. The contest is set to begin at 7 p.m. in Glenside, Pa.
