Men's Lacrosse Edged Out By Gwynedd Mercy, 8-6

Recap, photo courtesy of Emerson

THE BASICS 

Score: Gwynedd Mercy 8, Emerson 6 

Records: Emerson Lions (0-3) ; Gwynedd Mercy Griffins (4-1)

Location: Whittier, Calif. (Memorial Stadium)

Date: Thursday, March 7, 2019

The Lead: Senior Jared Brush (Detroit, Mich.) collected two goals followed by one goal apiece from four different members of the Emerson men's lacrosse team as the Lions' second half comeback was held two goals short in an 8-6 setback to Gwynedd Mercy on Thursday night to wrap its spring break play.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS 

• Brush found the back of the net two times on six total shots with the four other Lions goals coming from freshman Skyler Celotto (Fairfield, Conn.), sophomore Stevie Powers (Arlington, Mass) and junior Austin DiPietro (Clermont, Fla.) and Austin Franklin (New Bedford, Mass.). 
• Along with their goals, Franklin and Powers also dished out one assists apiece. 
• Celotto also picked up a team-high nine ground balls while freshman Lex Torrington (Culiver City, Calif.) caused a trio of turnovers and DiPietro successfully came away with 17-of-18 in the X. 
• Sophomore goalie Calloway Myers (Chico, Calif.) came away with seven stops on 12 total shot attempts through the opening 30 minutes in net and freshman Malcolm McGrath (Ridgefield, Conn.) completed the final half having allowed three goals on three saves. 
• Ryan Simpson outscored all scorers with four goals on 16 shots (seven on goal) along with two ground balls and one caused turnover as Gwynedd Mercy also had goals from Luke Xanthopoulos, Nick Freda, Joesph Pandolfi and Jacob Dzierzgowski. 
• Aubron Swartley picked up the win with 14 saves through the full 60 minutes in between the pipes and allowed six goals on 20 total shots. 
• Emerson held the advantage in the X (17-1), shots (43-33) and ground balls (28-20) and also successfully cleared 14-of-20 as well as going 0-for-2 with the man-up opportunity. 
• Gwynedd Mercu completed 22-of-25 clears and finished 2-for-3 when on the man-up. 

HOW IT HAPPENED 

• The first 15 minutes opened with Emerson and Gwynedd Mercy exchanging the lead with the Lions striking first on Celotto's net 48 seconds in before Simpson put the Griffins ahead 2-1 on back-to-back goals. 
• Franklin slipped the equalizer past Swartley at 2:19 to put the score at 2-2 before Simpson knocked in his third goal of the quarter with the Griffins ahead 3-2 with 40 seconds in the first.
• Gwynedd Mercy tacked on two goals from Pandolfi, Dzierzgowski to grab a three-goal lead (5-2) before an unassisted marker by DiPietro kicked off a string of three unanswered goals through the final 7:25 to enter the half tied at 5-5. 
• A man-up goal from Freda followed by Simpson's goal to begin the third pushed the Griffins back in front by a pair (7-5) until Brush fired a shot that got Emerson within one at 7-6 at the 1:35 mark. 
• The score held up at 7-6 through a majority of the fourth until the final 55 seconds when Xanthopoulos tacked on the game winning unassisted goal as the Lions fell 8-6.

UP NEXT 

• Emerson returns back to the east coast for its first home game of the season on Tuesday, March 12 in a 6:00 p.m. showdown with Nichols.