The Elizabethtown College men’s lacrosse team experienced highs and lows during their two games this past week. The Blue Jays were defeated by the Stevenson Mustangs, the defending National Champions, on Wednesday, March 12 at Mustang Stadium. The game gave the Blue Jays their second loss of the season. On Saturday, the Blue Jays rallied and pulled through with a 7-6 win against SUNY Oneonta.
The Blue Jays started strong on Wednesday’s game against Stevenson with senior Craig Hunsberger scoring his first of three goals within the first few minutes of play. Later in the first quarter, junior David Latimore scored his first goal of the season to tie the score at 2-2. Junior Russell LeClair and sophomore Jimmy Waters also added points to the board, each scoring one goal during the first quarter.
Stevenson tied the game at 4-4 to end the first quarter, which started a 6-0 run for the Mustangs. Hunsberger scored his second goal late in the third quarter with an assist from first-year Joe Clark, who scored three goals of his own. LeClair also scored his second goal in the fourth quarter.
“Clark and Hunsberger gave a great effort on offense with three points apiece. Matt Frey and Jake Snyder have been leaders for us on defense and I think they are working well with Chris Wenger in the net,” Head Coach Drew Delaney said. “The team put together a great effort in the first half, but ultimately we lost to the defending national champions. I am proud of our effort and I think the team is starting to see their potential.”
Stevenson was able to produce 50 shots throughout the game, while the Blue Jays finished with 22. “We need to create more shots. We are shooting about 36 percent, which is good, but we are only averaging about 30 shots a game. I’d like to see us get to 40 shots,” Delaney said. The final score of Wednesday’s game was 19-8.
“We came out with confidence and really played like a team with one common goal. We bought into our game plan and hung with a great opponent for the first half,” senior captain David Shatzer said. “It showed us that we could play with any team in the nation if we believe in each other and work hard together.”
On Saturday, the Blue Jays raced to a 4-0 lead early on against the SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons. Going into Saturday’s game, Delaney said, “I’d like to see us play with more consistency and continue to play with the energy and excitement we showed on Wednesday night. The team is starting to develop an identity. We are learning our strengths and weaknesses. We need to learn how to finish a game, so my goal is to go into the fourth quarter with an opportunity to win.” This is exactly what the Blue Jays did.
Clark found LeClair and sophomore Tucker Keefer to put points on the board along with scoring a goal himself in the first quarter. In the second quarter, first-year Dan Bednarik scored a goal off of an assist from Hunsberger to give the Blue Jays a 4-0 lead.
Wenger was hit with 52 shots throughout the game and denied almost everything that came his way. The Blue Jays headed into halftime with a 4-1 lead against the Red Dragons. Waters started the second half with a goal early in the third. Then, the Red Dragons hit a scoring streak and produced four consecutive goals to tie the game at 5-5. Keefer and Waters then both scored their second goals of the day to end the third with a 7-5 lead.
The SUNY Oneonta Red Dragons scored one more goal in the fourth quarter, cutting the Blue Jays lead to 7-6. Wenger stopped eight of the 19 shots (nine on goal) that came his way and ended the game with a career high 19 saves. The game ended with a 7-6 Blue Jays victory over SUNY Oneonta.
“We believe that every game comes down to our team executing our game plan,” Shatzer said. “It doesn’t matter who we play; if we execute it, we will have success. That’s what we believe in and that’s what we showed during the game. We have guys that will fight for each other and you have to love being on a team like that,” he said.
With the win on Saturday against SUNY Oneonta, the Blue Jays’ current record is 3-2. The next game is home against Immaculata University on Saturday, March 22 at 1 p.m.
