Men’s Lacrosse Pounds Wooster

By SAM MENCARINI

The men’s lacrosse team defeated the College of Wooster on Sunday, March 13, by a final score of 14-4. The win boosted UMW to 4-3 on the young season. After an offense struggle in the first quarter, the Eagles got things clicking midway through the second quarter. From then on, UMW ran away with the game by using great tactics and solid defense led by goalie Ryan Montgomery.

“Overall [we had] good defense and goaltending, but sporadic offense,” head coach Kurt Glaeser said. “We continue to need more discipline and consistency on the offensive end.”

The Eagles got on the scoreboard first by a goal from sophomore Paul Tunick. The two teams were evenly matched throughout the first quarter. The Eagles had great ball movement in the early going, but were countered by great Wooster defense and goal keeping by Jake Kubasta, who made countless saves.

In addition, the Eagles won time of possession and had more opportunities than the Fighting Scots in the first quarter. Wooster had an opportunity to make a comeback due to UMW penalties committed by freshman Johnny Esposito and junior Matt Vazquez, but the Eagles defense was able to hold. Wooster had nine man-up opportunities in the game, but were unable to convert any of them into goals.

The second period saw both offenses heat up, as it quickly turned to a shootout. The high scoring quarter got underway with the goal from freshman Chip Pittard, whose long range shot from the outside was assisted by Tunick. The Fighting Scots quickly responded with a long range goal of their own from Matt Pullara. With the score resting at 2-1 midway into the second quarter, the Eagles started to gain momentum. UMW pushed their lead to 4-2 after goals from junior Harry Snyder and senior Evan Weiss. Weiss’ goal came off a brilliant play set up by a miscommunication of the Wooster defense. Weiss was left undefended and simply looped from behind the net to score a goal.

“I felt like we played as a team today,” Weiss said. “Our goalie anchored us, our defense played tough and our offense finally started to play together, which was key.” Weiss had one goal and four assists in the victory.

It seemed like the Fighting Scots defense was getting frustrated by the unstoppable Eagles offense, as tensions heated between the teams. Coach Gleaser called a timeout at the end of the second period to discuss tactics and calm his team down a bit for the final 1:42 left in the quarter.

UMW came out of the timeout strong, as they scored two more goals in the waning minutes of the period. One of the goals was a sidearm shot by senior Kohl Meyer (assisted by Weiss), and the other was scored by Snyder following a costly Wooster turnover (also assisted by Weiss). The Eagles took a 6-2 into halftime and UMW never looked back.

Mary Washington continued their control over the game in the second half, as they outscored Wooster 4-2 in the third quarter and 4-0 in the fourth period. Snyder and sophomore Sean Dacey led UMW in goals with three apiece, while junior Ryan Montgomery got the win and tallied 11 saves in the process.

The Eagles dominated just about every statistical category in the blowout victory. Mary Washington outshot the Fighting Scots 41-17, they won the face off battle 13-9 and they converted 27-30 clears while Wooster was just 14-27.

The men’s lacrosse team will return to the field on Saturday, March 19, when St. Mary’s comes to Fredericksburg to battle the Eagles at 1 p.m.