SWARTHMORE, Pa. – The No. 13 Swarthmore College men's lacrosse team dominated the first three quarters and earned a 16-8 victory over visiting Eastern University in the Garnet's home opener on Wednesday night.
The triumph marked the 181
st career win for head coach
Pat Gress, making him the all-time leader in Swarthmore program history. Gress surpassed Avery Blake Sr. who amassed 180 victories from 1931-59. Gress is in his 29
th season with the Garnet.
Swarthmore outscored the Eagles, 8-2, in the opening half to build a comfortable lead. The Garnet added five more goals in the third while allowing just one to take a 13-3 advantage into the fourth. Eastern won the final period, 5-3, but the game was already out of reach. Swarthmore was lethal in man-up situations, going 4-for-6 on the night.
Michael Hardiman netted a career-high seven goals to lead the Garnet.
Clay Almgren tied his career best with seven points on four goals and three assists.
Drew Tyson played a strong game in the cage, recording 14 saves on 17 shots faced, causing three turnovers, and collecting five ground balls.
Lucas Kearney tallied six ground balls while
Jack McHenry and
Matthew Martinez won six faceoffs each.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Swarthmore scored the first three goals of the contest on tallies by Almgren, Hardiman, and
Ryder Maston. Eastern got on the board with 1:39 left in the opening quarter to make it 3-1 after the first 15 minutes.
- The Garnet pulled away in the second, netting five straight goals to up the margin to seven (8-1).
Ronan Butler hit the back of the net for his first collegiate goal to start the run. Hardiman scored twice during the stretch with
Danny Lowe and Almgren each adding a marker. The Eagles broke their drought with 3:40 on the clock and the score was 8-2 at intermission.
- Swarthmore opened the third with five unanswered goals to increase the difference to 11 (13-2). Almgren scored unassisted just 42 seconds into the period before Hardiman went off for four consecutive tallies to finish the run. Eastern beat the goalkeeper at the 3:30 mark to get within 10 (13-3) heading into the last stanza.
-
Andrew Stodden registered his first collegiate goal to begin the fourth for the Garnet. Almgren netted his fourth and final marker of the night with 10:10 to go to give Swarthmore its largest lead (15-3). The Eagles then found a rhythm, scoring five in a row, to cut the deficit to seven (15-8) with 3:20 remaining.
Jack Liss produced his first college goal to close the scoring for the Garnet.
GARNET LEADERS
Points: Almgren, Hardiman 7
Goals: Hardiman 7
Assists: Almgren 3
Shots: Hardiman 15
Ground Balls: Kearney 6
Caused Turnovers: Tyson 3
Faceoffs: McHenry 6-12, Martinez 6-8
Saves: Tyson 14
UP NEXT
Swarthmore (2-0) heads to Messiah University on Saturday.
