Mazzucco, Garnet Deny Diplomats
LANCASTER, Pa. -- Swarthmore junior goalie Frank Mazzucco made 13 saves and the Garnet offense got two scores from Tyler Bradshaw '10, Kyle Wilson '09 and Gavin Nurick '07 to defeat Franklin & Marshall 8-6 in Centennial men's lacrosse action Wednesday afternoon.
The Diplomats (3-4 overall, 0-2 CC) opened up the afternoon with a score by Brendan Kearney off a feed from Mark Hild at 9:11. The Garnet (3-2 overall, 2-1 CC) answered 1:43 later when senior midfielder Jay Charles tallied his third goal of the season. Swarthmore got an unassisted score from Nurick, a midfielder, at the 2:17 mark to hold the 2-1 advantage at the end of the first period.
Kearney put home his second goal of the afternoon at the start of the second period, scoring off an assist from David Steiner at 12:57. The Garnet answered with Wilson's first goal, assisted by sophomore David DeSimone at 6:25. Swarthmore maintained the 3-2 into the intermission, out-shooting F&M 99-99 while winning four of the six face-offs.
The bulk of the scoring came in the third period, with each team finding the net four times while creating four ties. The Diplomats put up consecutive scores to take a 4-3 lead before Bradshaw finished off a pass from DeSimone at 9:50 to knot the score at 4-all.
F&M took the lead again with a score from Cyrus Adams but Swarthmore's Adam Miller '08 won the ensuing face-off (he was 6-for-7 on the afternoon) and put in his first goal at the season at 7:38. Wilson scored his second of the day (team-leading eighth of the season) just 1:28 later as Swarthmore took the lead 6-5.
The Diplomats tied it up an unassisted goal by Hild with just 16 seconds left in the third period. Miller came up big again on the face-off and defender Drew Bonessa scooped up the ground ball. Bradshaw just beat the horn, scoring off a pass from senior Richard Jaronczyk with just one second left, giving the visitors a 7-6 lead headed to the fourth period.
The fourth period has troubled the Garnet all season—Swarthmore has been out-scored coming into Wednesday's game. Mazzucco and the Garnet defense bucked the trend, blanking F&M in the final period while adding an unassisted insurance goal by Nurick at 5:24.
The Diplomats held a slight shot advantage (25-22) while the Garnet dominated the face-off circle, winning 10 of 16.
Miller added to his banner day by leading the team with five ground balls---defender Dan Sartori '08 contributed four ground balls as well.
Swarthmore returns to Clothier Field this Saturday, March 31 for a 1:00 p.m. Centennial game with the Muhlenberg Mules.