Oh Mr Wilson, Garnet Open Season With Win
ST. DAVID'S, Pa. -- Garnet senior captain Stelios Wilson tallied a career-high five goals and junior goalie Kevin Friedenberg posted 12 saves in his first collegiate start as the Swarthmore men's lacrosse season opened the 2009 season with an 11-8 win at Eastern Saturday afternoon.
Wilson (Moorestown, N.J. / Moorestown), an attackman who tied for the team lead with 22 goals in 2008, tallied six points on the afternoon (also a career-high). His previous best day came last April 23 with a four-goal, one-assist effort in a 12-6 win over Drew. Fellow attack Gavin Musynske (Floral Park, N.Y. / Floral Park) added four assists while sophomore Mark Czernyk (Montville, N.J. / Delbarton School) posted a team-high five ground balls.
Friedenberg (Needham, Mass. / Needham) sat behind All-Centennial goalie Frank Mazzucco ’08 for the past two seasons and proved on Saturday that he was ready to take over the reigns. The large junior—he is listed at 6’4”, 225 lbs—faced 24 shots from the Eagles on the afternoon, coming up with the two biggest saves during an Eastern extra-man opportunity in the fourth period and the Garnet ahead by just one goal.
Swarthmore (1-0) was active early, taking a 2-1 first-period lead following two goals by Stelios Wilson. The Garnet advantage grew to 6-3 early in the third period as Musynske found junior attack Tyler Bradshaw (Marietta, Ga. / Lassiter) for goals on either side of the halftime.
Eastern (0-1) would tally three of the next four goals, all by Nick Mandia, to get within 7-6 at the end of the third period. The Eagles drew an extra-man chance four minutes into the fourth period and were able to get a pair of shots off during minute penalty. Friedenberg turned away both opportunities, sparking a response from the Garnet offensive attack.
Wilson ripped his fifth score of the afternoon off a feed from senior Will Predun (Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y. / Cold Spring Harbor) with 9:22 left in the game, while Predun and senior captain David DeSimone (Ronkonkoma, N.Y. / Connetquot) followed up with unassisted goals to send Swarthmore to a season-opening victory for the fourth time in five seasons.
Swarthmore out-shot Eastern 29-24 on the afternoon and swung the fourth period on a 5-for-7 effort in the face-offs.
The Garnet have eight days before their next competition, traveling to Long Island on Sunday, March 8 for a game at the United States Merchant Marine Academy at 2:00 p.m. Swarthmore makes its home debut against the talented College of Wooster squad (11-3 in 2008) in the middle of spring break. The opening face-off is scheduled for March 11 at 1:00 p.m. on Clothier Field.
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