Date: Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Contact: Christopher Kilcoyne / Sports Information
Director
(804) 752-7387, christopherkilcoyne@rmc.edu
R-MC Men's Lacrosse Secures ODAC Tournament Berth with
9-7 Win at Virginia Wesleyan
(Box
Score)
(ODAC
Tournament)
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - R-MC's Billy Rowe registered three goals and
two assists, and fellow midfielders Rich Wilkens and Pat Egan
netted two goals apiece as the Yellow Jackets defeated Virginia
Wesleyan 9-7 to secure the program's second consecutive berth in
the Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) Tournament. The Yellow
Jackets will play Hampden-Sydney on Saturday in Farmville, Va.
It did not take long for R-MC (7-6, 2-4 ODAC) to gain an early
lead, as Egan found the back of the VWC net just 51 seconds after
the opening whistle to give the Yellow Jackets a 1-0 advantage.
Billy Rowe then tallied his first goal of the night with 8:52
remaining in the first quarter. After the Marlins' Adam Nycz netted
two goals in the final two minutes of the opening quarter, R-MC
outscored VWC 5-1 in the second stanza. Wilkens netted both of his
goals in the second quarter, while Egan and Rowe also netted one
goal each. The Yellow Jackets benefited from a Marlin own goal and
Nycz scored his third and final goal of the game to make the
halftime score 7-3 in favor of R-MC.
Both teams traded goals as VWC's Travis Puls opened the
second-half scoring with 5:32 remaining in the third quarter.
R-MC's Kevin Patton responded by receiving a pass from Rowe and
depositing a shot to regain a four-goal Yellow Jacket lead. Rowe
scored in the first minute of the fourth quarter to make the score
9-4 with 14:06 remaining in regulation.
The Marlins (3-13, 0-6 ODAC) slowly chipped away at the R-MC
lead as VWC's Dan Geating and Drew Langis found the back of the net
to pull within three goals with 7:42 remaining in regulation.
However, Yellow Jacket goalie Adam Liberto, who grabbed five of his
thirteen saves in the fourth quarter, would allow just one more
goal to seal the 9-7 victory.
In addition to the midfield trio of Rowe, Wilkens, and Egan,
R-MC attackman Kevin Patton finished with one goal while Jake Leddy
tallied two assists. VWC's Adam Nycz registered three goals and two
assists while Curran Lee, Travis Puls, and Dan Geating each had one
goal and one assist to lead the Marlins. VWC goalie John-Paul Novak
registered 11 saves on 44 shots.
The Yellow Jackets now prepare for their ODAC Tournament
quarterfinal matchup at Hampden-Sydney on Saturday. In the first
meeting between these two teams on April 1, H-SC outscored R-MC 3-1
in the fourth quarter to earn a 12-9 victory.
- Yellow Jackets -
