The Elizabethtown College men’s lacrosse team traveled to Drew University where they came up victorious in a 12-5 win. In the process, senior defenseman, Matt Frey recorded his 100th caused turnover but he was not the only Blue Jay to hit the century mark. Sophomore attackman Joe Clark scored Etown’s first goal of the third quarter for his 100th point. He totaled two goals and two assists on the afternoon. The Blue Jays were able to coast to their undefeated regular season play within the Landmark Conference.
Within the first few minutes of the first quarter the Blue Jays were able to take a commanding lead scoring five goals. Senior Russell LeClair opened the run, whipping in a pass from junior Jimmy Waters with 9:39 to go in the quarter for his 32nd goal of the season. Then, sophomore Nick Specht followed LeClair with his 11th goal of the season and Clark was able to score on a man down at the 4:36 mark.
Two more goals were followed by LeClair and fellow senior Connor Rowe. After the game Rowe spoke adamantly about taking home a conference championship stating, “A regular season record does not win you a championship,” he said. “We need to play our best lacrosse in the coming week, which I absolutely think we are capable of.”
This marks the Blue Jays’ 13th consecutive win, which is also the longest in program history. As for Clark, his 62 points this season (39 goals, 23 assists) are fifth most in a season in team history and just 11 shy of Aaron Weber’s school record of 73, set in 2009. His 39 goals are now tied with hall of famer Frankie Puzzangara’s total from 2007 for fifth. However, Clark seemed more excited to receive the number one seed in the upcoming playoffs. “As a team we are all really excited to get to host the games,” he said. “It’s nice to get to play at home in front of your friends.”
Senior goalkeeper Chris Wenger was able to record his 12th win of the season as he also added in four saves on the day. On the other side of the field, Drew’s goalkeeper stopped 15 goals, but allowed 12. Behind 12 shots from LeClair and nine from Clark, Etown outshot Drew 47-22, including 30-4 over the first and fourth quarters. Elizabethtown was able to double their opposition in shots on goal which ultimately played a huge factor for the Blue Jays in the long run.
Etown opened the Landmark Conference Championships as the No. 1 seed yesterday when it hosted No. 4 Catholic in a semifinal game at Wolf Field.
The Blue Jays jumped all over the Cardinals early in the game. Etown led 5-1 after the first quarter and held an 7-1 lead before Catholic tallied to make it 8-2 at halftime.
The Cardinals rallied to begin the second half, cutting the deficit to 8-7 before sophomore Cody Larkin scored to give the Blue Jays a two-goal cushion. Catholic rallied to score three unanswered goals to take a 10-9 lead before Larkin scored his third of the game to tie it at 10.
With just under seven minutes remaining, Catholic’s Brian Keith scored his third goal of the game to give the Cardinals the 11-10 victory over the top seeded Blue Jays. Etown will await the possibility of an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
