SPECIALTY PROTECTION
WOMEN'S PROTECTIVE
Gettysburg, PA – The Gettysburg Bullets completed their three game sweep of the Washington College Shoremen in an NCAA Quarterfinal match-up that saw the Bullets jump out to a 7-1 halftime lead. Gettysburg was jumpstarted by three first half goals from sophomore attackman Joe Brody. Sophomore midfielder Kyle McGrath is proving that he’s a prime-time player with his second straight hat trick, the first being in Saturday’s 8-7 overtime NCAA tournament thriller against Denison. The Bullets defense held nation’s 27th-ranked offense scoreless for over 26 minutes to start the game. The story for Washington, as can be expected as of late, was the play of goalie Gordon Cohen. While the Bullets were dominating, Cohen stepped up with 16 saves to give the Shoremen a fighting chance. Unfortunately the Shoremen offense couldn’t crack the Bullets defense.
The two Centennial Conference rivals met a third time in a season for the first time since 2004. After both teams traded possessions to start the game, Gettysburg went on a little run with two goals spread out less than a minute apart five minutes into the game. From there, neither team could crack the other’s defense in the first quarter. Washington seemed intent on slowing the ball down offensively, as they worked it all the way around the offense at least twice before even attempting to run their offense. Once they settled into an offense to attack the goal, the Shoremen struggled to create opportunities. A few forced passes inside gave Gettysburg the ball back repeatedly. All told WAC only managed to generate seven shots in the first half, compared to their nine first half turnovers.
As Washington kept giving the ball up, Gettysburg’s offense started to click. Joe Brody was all over the offensive end making things happen. Methodically, Gettysburg mounted a 6-0 lead. WAC’s Jimmy Kielek took an inside feed from Chris Read and finally put the Shoremen on the board over 26 minutes into the game. Drew Duckworth added Gettysburg’s second man-up goal to close out the first half 7-1.
Both teams traded goals to start the third quarter, but Gettysburg continued to control the pace as they got long possessions and kept the Shoremen from ever getting comfortable on the offensive side of the field. Washington appeared to get some momentum on an athletic goal from Andrew Generazio, which it appeared to be a behind-the-back not-looking at the goal shot. As he ran off the field, he tried to light some fire under the Shoremen who were now down 9-3 with 15:23 in the game. A quick Gettysburg strike put the lead back to seven and allowed Gettysburg to stall the game away, while Washington continued to not be able to produce on the offensive side.
Gettysburg’s offense seems to get better each game as they moved the ball crisply all game and finished the opportunities they created. They outshot the Shoremen 39-26 and showed they have the ability to run out the clock as they did that for a large part of the end of the game.
Statistically the game was pretty close. Gettysburg held a slight groundball advantage (34-29), had one less turnover(15-16), and were a little less successful clearing the ball (18-of-21 vs. 17-of-19). Gettysburg was pretty sharp on man-up, capitalizing on three of their four opportunities. The faceoff stats were even (10-of-20 for both), though it appeared that WAC held an advantage in the area. They at least seemed to be directing the ball where they wanted, but the Bullets faceoff unit (Tim Stanton, Tom O’Donnell and Tommy Kehoe) had a great day pressuring the ball, forcing turnovers, getting the ball off the ground and overall making it difficult for Washington to possess the ball in between the lines. They’ll have to continue to have this success, but their job only gets more challenging. Salisbury’s two face-off men, Ryan Finch and Ryan Brown, are great at controlling the draws, getting the ball off the ground, and are very capable of keeping control of the ball through pressure. In the decisive fourth quarter against the Bullets a month ago, the Sea Gulls managed to win 4-of-6 faceoffs in winning the quarter, 5-0, and ultimately the game.
With the win, Gettysburg advances to their second straight Final Four appearance. The Bullets will have their hands full as they travel to Salisbury to play the top-seeded Sea Gulls. The Bullets had the Sea Gulls down 7-2 at the half on March 29th and forced the reigning national champs to score five goals in the final 5:26. Since then, Salisbury has picked up their play and gotten back to dominating their opponents. Gettysburg has been pretty much equally as dominant in going 17-2, with their only other loss coming in a trap game to F&M during the last game of the season after Gettysburg had already wrapped up the top seed in the Centennial Conference tournament. The Bullets and Sea Gulls are no strangers to each other. Expect both teams to play as if they have something to prove: the Sea Gulls want to show that the first game was a fluke, while Gettysburg also wants to show the first game was a fluke. Only their perceptions of a fluke differ quite a bit. Look for both teams to come out flying in Sunday’s Final Four match-up at Sea Gull Stadium.
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From Press Release…
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Sophomores Joe Brody (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) and Kyle McGrath (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) each notched a hat trick, scoring three goals apiece and the No. 3-ranked Gettysburg College men’s lacrosse team punched its ticket to the NCAA Division III semifinals for the second year in a row, cruising by No. 5 Washington (Md.) College 12-5 Wednesday afternoon at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
Gettysburg (17-2), which raced out to a 6-0 lead and blanked the Shoremen over the opening 26:21, will now play the winner of Wednesday night’s quarterfinal between No. 1 Salisbury University and No. 6 Cabrini College at a date, time, and location to be announced.
The Bullets, who tied the program record for single-season victories, will make their seventh appearance in the NCAA semifinals.
It was the third meeting of the season between the two teams, with Gettysburg winning all three.
McGrath continued his hot streak, notching his second straight hat trick and his third over the last four games. Senior Ben Sufrin (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) added two goals and an assist while junior Drew Duckworth (Rye, N.Y./Hotchkiss School (Conn.)) scored a pair of goals. Senior Trip Dyer (Ocean View, Del./Worcester Prep (Md.)) and junior Tom O'Donnell (Montgomeryville, Pa./La Salle College) contributed one goal and one assist apiece while O’Donnell scooped up a season-high six ground balls. Junior Zachary Furshman (Miami, Fla./Kent School (Conn.)) came up with eight saves over the opening 56:10.
Thanks in large part to the play of senior defenseman Andrew McGann (Laguna, Calif./Holderness (N.H.)), the Centennial Conference Player of the Year, Gettysburg shut out Washington’s Chris Read, who entered the game with a conference-leading 51 goals.
Washington (14-4) received a pair of tallies from Andrew Generazio. Gordon Cohen saved 16 shots in 56:38 of action.
The Bullets jumped out to an early 2-0 lead, scoring a pair of goals 53 seconds apart. Sufrin put the Bullets on the scoreboard at the 11:55 mark, and Brody took a feed from freshman Chris Cahill (Nashville, Tenn./Montgomery Bell Academy) and scored just under a minute later. It remained a 2-0 game at the end of the first quarter, with Gettysburg out-shooting Washington 7-2 in the opening period.
O’Donnell made it 3-0 with an unassisted goal at the 12:42 mark of the second quarter before the Bullets broke it open with three goals over a 2:31 stretch midway through the stanza. Brody kicked off the decisive spurt, scoring a man-up tally with 7:53 left before sophomore Patrick Koehl (Shamong, N.J./St. Joseph’s Prep (Pa.)) set up McGrath’s first goal of the game with 6:15 showing. Just under a minute later, Brody struck again, scoring his final goal of the game as Gettysburg’s lead swelled to 6-0 at the 5:22 mark.
Washington broke up the shutout with 3:39 left in the half, when Jimmy Kielek scored off an assist from Read. But Duckworth answered for Gettysburg 1:06 before the half, taking a pass from Dyer and firing in a shot that deflected off the goalie before trickling in to make it a 7-1 game at the break.
The Bullets out-shot the Shoremen 19-7 in the opening half.
The two teams traded goals twice at the start of the third quarter, with Duckworth and McGrath scoring for Gettysburg to give the hosts a 9-2 advantage. Generazio scored each of his goals in the third quarter, but Dyer accepted a feed from O’Donnell and scored with six seconds left as the Bullets carried a 10-3 lead into the final period.
McGrath buried his final goal of the game 3:02 into the final quarter, and neither team scored again until Sufrin accepted a pass from Brody before scoring his second goal of the day to give Gettysburg its largest lead (12-3) of the game. Washington added a pair of goals in the final 1:51, with Kolyn Kirby scoring at the 1:51 mark and Nick Gregory cashing in just before the horn.
Gettysburg’s special teams registered an outstanding game, as the Bullets scored on 3-of-4 extra-man opportunities and successfully killed all four of their penalties. The Orange & Blue held a 34-29 advantage in ground balls, and each team went 10-for-20 on face-offs.
| Scoring | |
|---|---|
| Joe Brody | (3, 1) |
| Ben Sufrin | (2, 1) |
| Kyle Mcgrath | (3, 0) |
| Drew Duckworth | (2, 0) |
| Trip Dyer | (1, 1) |
| Tom O'donnell | (1, 1) |
| Chris Cahill | (0, 1) |
| Patrick Koehl | (0, 1) |
| Saves | |
|---|---|
| Zachary Furshman | 8 (0.727) |
| Charles Floeckher | 0 (0.000) |
| Current Record | |
|---|---|
| Gettysburg | 17-2 |
| Scoring | |
|---|---|
| Nick Gregory | (1, 1) |
| Kolyn Kirby | (1, 1) |
| Andrew Generazio | (2, 0) |
| Chris Read | (0, 1) |
| Tim Prudente | (0, 1) |
| Jimmy Kielek | (1, 0) |
| Saves | |
|---|---|
| Gordon Cohen | 16 (0.571) |
| Current Record | |
|---|---|
| Washington College | 14-4 |
