The Elizabethtown College men’s lacrosse team finished its season under its new head coach Drew Delaney with a 7-8 overall record and 3-5 Commonwealth Conference record to miss the playoffs in their last season in the Middle Atlantic Conference.
The Blue Jays kept those playoff dreams alive with a decisive 10-2 home victory against Hood College on April 22.
Junior Russ LeClair broke a 1-1 tie less than three minutes into the second with his 20th goal of the season and second of the afternoon. The goal, which helped the Blue Jays outscore Hood 6-0 over the middle two quarters, was part of an 8-0 run that spanned parts of each period.
First-years Joe Clark and Mike Specht also scored a pair of goals for the Jays. Clark finished with a game-high four points, as he assisted on LeClair’s first quarter goal and first-year Nick Specht’s goal early in the third quarter.
First-years Jason Clough, Dan Bednarik and Matt Rucci also scored for Etown. Rucci tallied for the first time in his career late in the fourth.
First-year defenseman Luke Stephens made his first career start, and his impact was felt with three caused turnovers and two ground balls. Nine players caused at least one turnover, with senior Craig Hunsberger adding a pair.
The win against Hood gave the Blue Jays a must-win game at Widener University on Saturday. However, the team couldn’t pull off the win, going down 12-7 in the final game of the season.
The Blue Jays came from five goals down to get within one midway through the third, but the Pride finished the game on a 5-1 run to prevail 12-7 and put an end to Etown’s season.
Widener, which will be the No. 2 seed in next week’s championships and host a semifinal game Thursday, opened a 5-0 lead 45 seconds into the second quarter. Marc Feldman put the home team up 1-0 at 11:38 of the first, before Tim Taylor’s hat trick, with goals at 8:04, 6:26 and 2:24, which made the score 4-0.
Etown (7-8, 3-5 CC) outscored Widener 4-1 over the final 7:11 of the quarter, and headed to the half within striking distance.
All four goals in the second were scored by the first-year Specht brothers. Mike Specht netted a hat trick and Nick Specht added his 15th of the year. Nick Specht and Hunsberger pulled Etown within 7-6 on goals at 10:45 and 6:35 of the third, but Widener scored two more before the quarter was through to lead 9-6.
The Pride beat junior Chris Wenger three more times before first-year Dan Bednarik finished the scoring with 6:38 to go in regulation.
It was announced on Wednesday that four members of the team received all-Commonwealth Conference honors.
Junior defenseman Matt Frey was named All-Commonwealth Conference Second Team, and Clark was named the conference’s Rookie of the Year.
Senior Craig Hunsberger and sophomore Jimmy Waters, along with the aforementioned Clark, were named Honorable Mention.
