Feb. 28, 2009
Box Score
EASTON, Pa. - The Lafayette men's lacrosse team will have plenty of momentum to ride into next weekend's Patriot League showdown with nationally-ranked Navy. The Leopards put forth an impressive all-around effort on Saturday afternoon and grabbed an 8-5 victory over Quinnipiac at Rappolt Field.
An energized Lafayette squad took the field and established themselves early and often in the Quinnipiac defensive zone. After controlling the first 10 minutes, the Leopards got on the board at the 5:08 mark when Ray Shalley found teammate Stefan Bauer in front of the net to give Lafayette the 1-0 advantage.
An evenly-played final five minutes of the first quarter saw back and forth action, with the Leopards taking the lead into the second quarter.
After the Bobcats tied the game at one, Lafayette responded with three straight goals in the next five minutes. Sophomore Tom Perini used a Chris Ahern assist to give the Leopards a 2-1 lead with 10:08 remaining in the half. Following the face-off, Perini again found the back of the net on a behind-the-back shot past Quinnipiac goalkeeper Kevin Benzing.
The 3-0 run was capped off by a Colin Serling goal from Bauer with 7:57 left before halftime.
The Bobcats didn't go quietly into intermission tallying two goals in the final 6:01 of the half to cut its deficit to 4-3 at halftime.
After Quinnipiac tied the game at four nearly a minute and a half into the second half, Lafayette again bounced back as Matt Beck found Perini for his third goal of the afternoon. After trading possessions, Bauer found senior Matt Mersky in front of the net to make the score 6-4 Leopards with 4:28 remaining.
The Bobcats answered on the ensuing faceoff and pulled back to within one on a goal at the 4:19 mark of the third quarter.
However, when Lafayette was awarded a man-advantage late in the third period, Bauer notched his third assist of the day, this time to Ahern to push the Leopard lead back up to two at 7-5.
A back and forth final quarter saw the only goal belong to Lafayette, an unassisted Ray Shalley insurance goal at the 2:56 to ice the 8-5 Leopard victory.
The Lafayette defense was intense and energized all day, killing two Bobcat man-advantage opportunities. Senior goalkeeper Jeff Canfield tallied 10 saves to pick up his second win of the season.
The Leopards only committed 12 turnovers and won the ground ball battle 22-17. Lafayette held a slim 28-26 advantage in shots.
Lafayette now shifts its focus to a week of preparation for the Patriot League opener one week from today. The Leopards will head to nationally-ranked Navy next Saturday. Face-off is scheduled for noon in Annapolis, Md.
