Box Score

ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Senior Ian Lukaszewicz netted the golden goal and factored into five overall to propel the Swarthmore College men's lacrosse team to an 8-7 triumph over Muhlenberg in overtime on Wednesday, March 25 at Scotty Wood Stadium. It was the Garnet's fifth win in their last six games.
 
Trailing by one goal with under two minutes remaining, Muhlenberg took a timeout to map out how they could potentially net the equalizer. After three shots went wide, Jason Mertz capitalized on a fourth attempt on the same possession to tie the game at 7-all with just 11 seconds on the clock to force overtime.
 
Swarthmore (5-2, CC 1-1), however, shook off the late Mule goal and scored the golden goal less than a minute into the extra session to earn the sudden victory. Junior Mike Selverian won his 14th face-off of the evening, and senior Andrew Preiser found Lukaszewicz for his 17th marker of the season just 51 seconds into the frame.
 
Muhlenberg (3-4, CC 0-2) outscored Swarthmore 3-0 in the first quarter and appeared to be in full control of the game. But after Brad D'Alessandro finished a pass from John Hetzel to make it 4-0 at the 12:34 mark of the second quarter, the Garnet started to rally with Preiser and Lukaszewicz leading the charge. The senior duo combined for two goals and two helpers in a span of 5:23, which was capped by an unassisted Preiser tally with 7:04 on the clock to slash the deficit to a single goal at the break.
 
Beginning the second half with a two-man advantage, Swarthmore tied the match for the first time since the opening face-off when Lukaszewicz sent a rocket past goalkeeper Adam Schlauch for the only goal between the two teams in the third quarter. Lukaszewicz, freshman Sam Sokota and Preiser each found the back of the net in the fourth quarter to extend the Garnet scoring streak to seven unanswered before the Mules rallied to push the game into overtime.
 
Sophomore Cole Fox made 12 saves in the winning effort for Swarthmore and improved his career record as a starter to an impressive 4-1 overall. The Mules' Schlauch turned away 11 shots in the losing effort.
 
Muhlenberg outshot Swarthmore 37-31, while the Garnet had a commanding 16-3 advantage in face-off wins and a 33-23 edge in the ground game. Preiser and Lukaszewicz paced the Garnet offense with three goals and two assists apiece, which included connecting on the winning marker. Lukaszewicz also contributed defensively by causing turnovers along with senior captain Darrel Hunter.
 
Swarthmore returns home to face Misericordia for a non-conference battle on Saturday, March 28 at 1 p.m.