Box Score READING, Pa. – Senior Matt Tompkins scored six times as the 14th-ranked Stevenson University men's lacrosse team held off Albright College for a 16-13 MAC Commonwealth victory Saturday afternoon at Shirk Stadium. The two teams entered the day unbeaten in conference play, along with Widener, which lost to Messiah.
Tompkins six goals are a career high and the most by a Mustang player in a single game since Mark Pannenton had eight goals against Hood on March 23, 2013. The win improves Stevenson's record in MAC Commonwealth regular season play to 29-0 since joining the conference.
Stevenson (10-4, 5-0 MAC Commonwealth) also got four goals and two assists from junior Kyle D'Onofrio. Classmate Wade Korvin notched two goals and three assists, while sophomore Lito Flanagan posted two goals and an assist. Senior Stephen Banick handed out four assists, while juniors Morgan Pritchett and Parish Young each added single tallies.
Albright (5-7, 4-1 MAC Commonwealth) was led by five goals and an assist from Cam Cetrone, while Andrew Potter registered four goals.
Stevenson held an 11-9 lead entering the fourth quarter but saw its lead cut to one twice, the second time on Cetrone's goal with 6:45 remaining that made it 13-12. It took just 14 seconds for the Mustangs to reclaim a two-goal advantage, as Flanagan scored after junior Nathaniel LeQuang won the faceoff.
It would remain 14-12 until Stevenson struck twice in a 21-second span. Young scored a man-up goal with 2:35 left off a feed from senior Pat Candon, then at the 2:14 mark, Korvin scored off a feed from Flanagan after Flanagan picked up the ground ball following Lequang's faceoff win. Albright's Tyler Strayline scored at the 2:06 mark to cut it to 16-13, but the guests won the ensuing faceoff and were able to successfully run out most of the clock.
Trailing 9-6 at halftime, Albright pulled within two just over a minute into the second half on a Cetrone goal. Tompkins struck at the 12:49 mark, before D'Onofrio scored at 10:47, to give Stevenson an 11-7 lead. The Lions scored the final two goals of the quarter to again pull within two, 11-9, at the end of the third.
Korvin gave the Mustangs a 1-0 lead 3:47 into the game off a feed from Banick. Stevenson pushed the lead to 3-0 on goals by Tompkins and D'Onofrio before Potter scored at the 6:15 mark to get Albright on the board. Tompkins' second goal of the quarter at 4:36 gave the guests a 4-1 lead, which it would hold at the end of the first.
Albright scored the first three goals of the second to tie the game 4-4 with 10:30 remaining before intermission. The game was tied 5-5 with 8:12 left when back-to-back goals by Tompkins, followed by a Pritchett tally, gave Stevenson an 8-5 lead with 2:42 on the clock. Two goals were scored in the final 15 seconds of the half, as Cetrone made it 8-6 with 15 seconds left, before D'Onofrio scored with just four ticks on the clock.
Stevenson outshot Albright 52-25 and won 23-of-32 faceoffs while also picking up 42 ground balls to the Lions' 18. Freshman Garrett Egnaczyk made four saves for Stevenson, while Ryan Aler turned aside 14 shots for the Lions. The Mustangs went 2-4 with the man advantage, while Albright failed to convert either of its two extra-man opportunities.
In addition to his three points, Flanagan picked up 13 ground balls and had three caused turnovers, the most ground balls in a game by a Mustang since Brent Hiken had 19 against the Lions on May 3, 2014. Seniors Dylan Muti and Taylor Morgan and sophomore Dom DeFazio had two caused turnovers apiece.
Stevenson returns home on Wednesday night when it hosts Messiah College in a 7:00 contest at Mustang Stadium.
