Lacrosse Rallies For Win

By KEVIN BOILARD

The members of the University of Mary Washington men’s lacrosse team proved once again that they are no strangers to comebacks, as they rallied to defeat Marymount University, 14-11 last Saturday.

The Eagles trailed at halftime by a score of 8-4 only to pull ahead in the second half thanks to a 9-0 run. Needing to rebound from a mid-week overtime loss to Goucher College, the win against the Saints on March 17 was the team’s fourth come-from-behind victory of the season.

Four players, sophomore attackman John Bohlinger, junior attackman Paul Tunick, junior midfielder Sean Dacey and senior atackman Harry Snyder, scored hat tricks as the Eagles offense showcased a season-high 14 goals.

“It was the biggest game of the year as far as I was concerned,” head coach Kurt Glaeser said. “Marymount was undefeated on their home field and the loss to Goucher jarred us.”

At halftime, both teams made substitutions at goaltender. The usual Eagles’ stalwart, senior Matt Prin, was pulled in favor of junior netminder Kyle Davitt.

“Matt [Prin] has done a great job,” Glaeser said after the game. “I just thought we needed to give Marymount a different look in the goal and a 6’5’’ goalie like Kyle tends to take up a lot of the goal… He played with a lot of composure and confidence.”

After going down by five goals early in the third quarter, Dacey sparked the Eagles’ offense by scoring back-to-back goals in a 1:33 time span.

“It’s a game of runs,” Dacey said following the win. “We made a good run in the second half and it won us the game. Our offense looked the best it has all season and that’s just what we want as we head into our conference schedule.”

Davitt proved to be a good fit in net as the Eagles’ defense held Marymount scoreless for over 26 minutes in the second half.

During the Saints’ scoring drought, the UMW offense put together their most impressive scoring run of the season with nine straight goals after Dacey netted the Eagles’ first goal of the second half with 13:51 left to play in the third quarter.

Bohlinger was a large part of the team’s comeback, scoring two of his three goals in the second half, one of which came on a 30-second extra man opportunity that UMW received thanks to a pushing violation on Marymount’s Willard Humphries.

By the end of the fourth quarter, the Eagles had built a 13-9 advantage, but Marymount did not go away quietly. The Saints scored two late goals and closed the Eagles’ lead to just two with 2:17 left in regulation.

Snyder quickly stifled any hopes of late-game heroics that the Saints may have had with an unassisted goal, lifting the Eagles to a 14-11 lead with just over a minute to play. From there, the Eagles were able to kill the clock and celebrate their fifth victory of the season and their first win in conference play.

The men’s lacrosse hosted conference opponent Wesley College yesterday afternoon, with Mary Washington defeating the Wolverines 13-7.

Bohlinger had a game-high six points (three goals and three assists) while senior attackman Harry Snyder totaled five points including a game-high four goals. UMW won the turnover battle (14-19) while recording more saves (13-6) and outshooting the visiting Wolverines 39-30.

Coach Glaeser’s team will be back in action again this Saturday, March 24, when his Eagles (6-1, 2-0) host Stevenson University (6-2, 1-0) at the Battlegrounds at 1 p.m.