No. 5 Mercyhurst defeats SAPC men's lacrosse, 17-10

March 04, 2006

Boxscore

LAURINBURG, NC—No. 5 nationally ranked Mercyhurst out scored host St. Andrews Presbyterian College 8-2 in the fourth quarter in route to a 17-10 non-conference men’s lacrosse victory on Saturday.

The Lakers remain perfect on the season at 2-0 while the Knights fell to 1-2.

Mercyhurst jumped out to a 6-0 lead after the first period with six tallies by five different goal scorers. Freshman Ryan Arnold had two goals during the first.

St. Andrews rallied with a 6-0 run over the course of the second frame to tie everything a six apiece. Junior Dan Hartzell (Lacombe, Alberta, Canada) led the Knights comeback with a hat trick in less than an eight minute span.

While the score looked to be tied heading into halftime, junior Scott Janssen took advantage of a late rush by Mercyhurst and ripped a goal with five seconds left before the half to give the Lakers a slim 7-6 lead at intermission.

Freshman Mike Bartlett extended the Mercyhurst lead to two with an early goal in the third but the Knights tied everything at 8-8 on goals by senior Pat Fitzgerald (Baltimore, MD) and junior Zach Mryncza (Baltimore, MD). For the third consecutive period, the Lakers scored in the final 12 seconds of a quarter to gain the momentum. This time, senior Andrew Schuster scored with seven seconds left to put Mercyhurst into the lead for good.

An unsportsmanlike penalty on St. Andrews at the end of the third allowed Mercyhurst to start to pull away on a senior Jim Mullaley goal 22 seconds into the fourth. Junior Simon Stocks pushed the Laker lead to three on a two-man advantage goal four minutes later. Mercyhurst scored the first six goals of the final stanza to pull away. The two teams split the final four goals giving the Lakers a seven-point victory.

The Knights held a slim 35-33 shot and 45-44 ground ball advantage but fell victim to 11 penalties. Mercyhurst, who went 5-for-10 on the extra-man advantage, was a perfect 4-for-4 in the final 15 minutes.

Arnold led the Lakers with four goals while Janssen had the hat trick and two assists. Stocks, Bartlett, and Mullaley all finished with two goals. Senior Blake Tandoi provided three assists. Senior goalkeeper Mike Bringley made 11 saves.

Hartzell and Mryncza scored three goals apiece for the Knights. Fitzgerald had two tallies while junior Tony Ferreira (Youngsville, NC) and freshman Kyle Loda (Vienna, VA) each had one. Junior Dalen Crouse (St. Albert, Alberta, Canada) supplied two helpers and junior Drew Howell (St. Albert, Alberta, Canada) had one. Freshman netminder Nate Hull (Millersville, MD) had seven stops for the Knights.