Garnet Men Open Lax Season With Convincing 8-2 Win Over Eastern
SWARTHMORE. Pa. – So much for opening-night jitters.
A strong defensive performance and a balanced scoring attack led the way for the Swarthmore College men’s lacrosse team (1-0), which christened the 2010 season with an 8-2 victory over Eastern (0-1) on a frigid Saturday night from Clothier Field.
Bradshaw added two goals and an assist to pace the Garnet.
Senior Tyler Bradshaw and sophomore Zach Belden each netted two goals apiece, while senior Gavin Musynske, senior Anthony Phalen , sophomore John Bukawyn and freshman Wes Marcik also added goals to pace the Garnet attack.
Senior captain goalkeeper Kevin Friedenberg was outstanding in net for the Garnet, making 13 saves to lead a ferocious Swat defensive performance; the two goals allowed is the least by a Swat opponent since the 2008 season-opener against Randolph-Macon (3/1/08). Senior captain Max Wilson led the defense with three caused turnovers.
The Garnet thoroughly controlled the game from the opening whistle, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to an unassisted goal by Phalen and a goal from Belden off an excellent behind-the-goal feed from Musynske.
After a short hiccup thanks to a man-down goal scored by Eastern’s Matt Wagner - Swarthmore went on four-goal run spanning almost two quarters before Eastern would find the net again, putting the game out of reach.
The two goals allowed by Friedenberg - who ranked third in the conference last season in save percentage in 2009 – is a career-low.
Swarthmore out-hustled Eastern across the board, winning both the ground ball (25-19) and shot attempt (36-27) margins. Junior Marc Czernyk highlighted the effort winning an impressive 10 out of 13 face- off attempts.
Freshman Steve Selverian and Bradshaw also added assists for the Garnet.
Swarthmore returns to action on Saturday, March 6 with a short to Widener for a 320 Challenge game. Face off is set for 1:00 p.m.