PISCATAWAY, NJ (May 3, 2003) - Junior Delby Powless (Six Nations, Ontario)
and sophomore Jamie Lovejoy (Holbrook, NY) each scored three goals and
freshman goalie Greg Havalchak (Corning, NY) saved 15 shots to lead the No.
8 Rutgers men's lacrosse team (10-4, 3-2 ECAC) to a 12-9 victory over third-
ranked Massachusetts (12-2, 3-2 ECAC) today at Yurcak Field. UMass is the
highest ranked team Rutgers has defeated since beating No. 3 Syracuse in
1998. The 10 wins are the most for the program since the 1990 season, when
RU went 10-5 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Rutgers will now wait to see if it gains a bid into the 2003 NCAA Men's
Lacrosse Championships. The selection show will be held Sunday evening at
8 PM and telecast live on ESPNEWS.
Powless started the scoring 1:06 into the game off a pass from junior Tim
White (Rockville Center, NY). UMass tied the game just nine seconds later,
but senior Nick Schmidt (Hicksville, NY) added a goal at the 12:01 mark to
give RU a 2-1 lead. Sophomore John Flanagan (Smithtown, NY) gave RU a 3-1
lead, but UMass would score two consecutive goals in the span of 25 second
to tie the game, 3-1, at the 4:08 mark. Powless scored his second goal of
the day with 1:00 left to give RU a 4-3 advantage after the first 15
minutes of play. Rutgers kept the lead for the remainder of the game.
Sophomore Leif Blomquist (Long Beach, NY) opened the scoring in the second
quarter, but UMass' Jeff Zywicki scored the second of his three goals 17
seconds later to cut the RU lead to one, 5-4. The Scarlet Knights
responded by scoring four consecutive goals over the next 4:46 to take a 9-
4 lead with 5:49 left in the first half. Senior Jeff Duca (Fair Lawn, NJ)
started the run, with Flanagan, Powless and Lovejoy each adding single
goals. The Minutemen added a goal with 3:04 before halftime and RU went
into the half with a 9-5 advantage. The nine first half goals were a
season-high for the Scarlet Knights.
The Scarlet Knights expanded their lead in the third quarter behind two
Lovejoy goals, while UMass scored just once in the stanza. After Chris
Fiore scored for the Minutemen at the 7:30 mark in the quarter, Lovejoy
scored at the 3:10 mark, and added a spectacular goal with just one second
left on the clock off a pass from senior Ken Springer (Ridgewood, NJ) to
give RU an 11-6 lead entering the final 15 minutes of play.
After Duca scored 2:30 into the fourth quarter, Rutgers enjoyed its largest
lead of the day (12-6). UMass responded with three goals to end the
contest, but it wasn't enough in the 12-9 defeat.
In addition to Lovejoy and Powless, Flanagan and Duca each has two goals,
while Blomquist and White each dished out two assists. Havalchak made 15
saves and moved into 14th on the Rutgers single-season saves list, with
175. He now has the most saves for a freshman in school history.
Rutgers vs. Massachusetts
| Current Record | |
|---|
| Rutgers | 10-4 |
| Current Record | |
|---|
| Massachusetts | 12-2 |
SPECIALTY PROTECTION
WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE
