SWARTHMORE, Pa. - The No. 16 Swarthmore College men's lacrosse team defended its home turf with a 13-9 victory over No. 9 Gettysburg College on Saturday afternoon. The win marked the program's fourth-straight victory over the Bullets.
Michael Hardiman backed up his Centennial Player of the Week selection with another four-goal performance to lead Swarthmore to its fifth-straight win. The junior has combined for 13 goals in the first three games of conference play.
Clay Almgren also had a big offensive performance with two goals and three assists.
Reigning Defensive Player of the Week
Drew Tyson also defended his title with another masterful performance between the pipes. The sophomore standout made 15 saves, while allowing just nine goals against the Bullets nationally-ranked attack.
Jack McHenry and
Matthew Martinez set the tone for the offense with a 24-2 record on face offs. Both players recorded career-highs in groundballs with ten and nine, respectively.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- After Gettysburg opened the scoring with 6:05 left, the Garnet held the Bullets scoreless for the remainder of the quarter. Hardiman tallied a pair of goals at the 4:23 and 1:50 marks to put Swarthmore ahead at the first intermission, 2-1.
- Hardiman completed a natural hat trick with his third-unanswered tally in the opening minute of the second quarter. Moments later, the Bullets broke their scoring drought, before
Von Mabbs quickly answered back with another Swarthmore score. Gettysburg controlled the scoring for the remainder of the half as they wrapped up the quarter with two-unanswered scores, 4-4.
- The Garnet took control of the game with four-straight goals to open the third quarter.
Ryder Maston notched the go-ahead tally with 11:32 left in the third.
Clay Almgren,
Carter Strauch and
Cooper Bucklan then followed with scores to put Swarthmore ahead by four goals. However, Gettysburg punched back before the end of the quarter with three-unanswered goals in the final four minutes, 8-7.
- Early in the fourth quarter, Hardiman settled down the Garnet with a much-needed insurance goal, before Almgren followed with his second score of the game. The Bullets got a goal back to shrink their deficit to two goals, but surrendered two-straight scores to
Rex Mabbs and
Nolan Ohrman to double their deficit. Gettysburg found rope with 4:46 remaining, but were unable to add to its total the rest of the way.
Jackson Brosgol put the cherry on top of an incredible team performance with a man-up goal in the final minute of play.
GARNET LEADERS
Points: Almgren 5
Goals: Hardiman 4
Assists: Almgren 3
Shots: Hardiman 4
Ground balls: McHenry 10
Saves: Tyson 15
UP NEXT
The Garnet (9-1, 3-0) put their unbeaten conference record on the line at Washington College on Wednesday.
