Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
RADNOR, PA – A big second half run for the Cavaliers of No. 4 Cabrini lifted them to a 7-0 mark and a 15-9 victory over the Whittier College men's lacrosse team Saturday.
This was the final game of the Spring Break trip for the Purple & Gold as they finished 2-2 and they now improve to 3-2 on the young season.
Whittier took an early lead 31 seconds into the contest from sophomore midfielder Matt Symes (Coquitlam, BC, Canada). The Cavaliers would add the next two goals capitalizing on a man-up situation before the Poets would respond with three unanswered from Aaron Self (San Clemente, Calif.), Jonathan Kassity (San Clemente, Calif.), and Maxwell Jones (Fircrest, WA) that gave the Purple & Gold a 4-2 advantage.
But Cabrini's Tyler Johnston would add a tally with 70 seconds remaining in the opening period to pull the Cavaliers within one.
Johnston found JoJo Cooper with 6:09 left in the second quarter to knot the game up at four and the Blue and White would take their second lead of the contest two minutes later from Damian Sobieski. Danny Prevedel (Denver, CO) would stop the run at the 2:57 mark with an unassisted goal before Cabrini's Sobieski would add his second of the frame to give the Cavs a 6-5 advantage at the break.
Out of the half, Sobieski would add another to give Cabrini a two goal cushion but the Poets' Symes and Prevedel would answer with two of their own to tie the game up at seven with 7:21 left in the quarter.
Cabrini changed the fate of the game over a 1:23 span between the third and fourth quarters. Johnston and Corey Elmer tallied unassisted goals in the final 33 seconds of the period to again put the Cavaliers up by two. A late Whittier penalty gave Cabrini a man-up opportunity to open the fourth quarter. In the final seconds of the penalty, Elmer found Leyden to give the Cavaliers a 10-7 lead with 14:10 to play.
The Blue and White would add another four goals to extend their lead 14-7 before Kassity would convert on a man up situation with 3:44 to play before Symes would find the back of the goal for his third of the game with 42 seconds to play.
Senior Nathan Kleponis (Tustin, Calif.) played all sixty minutes collecting a career high 16 saves against 31 shots. Cabrini outshot Whittier 48-27 and was a perfect 20-20 on clear attempts. Symes finished the day with three goals on four shots and an assist, while Scott Pescheret (Eagan, MN) had a team high six groundballs and 12 face offs won.
Whittier returns home to begin preparing for a two game home stand against DePauw University on Tuesday, March 25 at 4:00pm before facing off against Dominican on Friday, March 28 at 7:00pm.
