Lacrosse: Union Comes Back to Edge Ephs 7-6
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Mike Ryan led the Eph attack with two goals and an assist, while Corey Jacobs won 12 of the 17 faceoffs in the game and Eph netminder Stephen Vrla stopped 9 shots.
Union was able to score the only goal of the first quarter, though the Ephs outshot the Dutchmen 6-5 in the period. The start of the second quarter saw Union apparently take control of the game, as the Dutchmen scored three straight goals to take a 4-0 lead. The Ephs fought back, however; Ryan scored with 3:45 to play in the half, then fed Tim Goggins for a goal 1:26 later to make the score 4-2. With 0:46 on the clock, the Ephs were then able to pull within one on a goal by Richard Reuter off a Sam Hargrove assist, and the team entered the break with all the momentum going into the second half.
The Ephs found a way to use that momentum coming out of the break, as Adam Benjamin scored his first goal of the season off a pass from Brian Wrapp to tie up the game 4-4 with 7:17 to play in the third. Union was able to find a way past Vrla again with 3:44 remaining in the period, but another unassisted goal from Ryan evened the game back up 36 seconds later. With 1:57 to play in the period, Wrapp scored off a Goggins assist to give Williams its first lead of the game, 6-5, going into the fourth quarter. Union ultimately applied too much pressure in the fourth, however, scoring twice to claim the 7-6 victory.
The Ephs outshot the Dutchmen 30-27 in the game; the team also dominated the Union on loose balls, winning 41 ground balls to the Dutchmen’s 30. Turnovers, mixed by strong goaltending for Union, combined to spell defeat for the Ephs: the team gave up possession 17 times, while Union’s netminder stopped 13 Eph shots.
Eph head coach George McCormack felt there were strong performances even in the loss. "We battled them pretty hard," he said. "We did very well with groundablls and faceoffs. Offensively, Mike Ryan stood out and did some good things, and Stephen Vrla had another good day."
“It was a very frustrating game,” he added. “We are going to use it to get motivated for our Little Three rival [Wesleyan] this weekend. We are in the playoff hunt. There are three games left in conference going to try to get into playoffs and go from there.”
The Ephs will take on the Cardinals Saturday, April 17, at home at 1 p.m.
