Swarthmore College Athletics

ALLENTOWN, Pa. - The Swarthmore College men's lacrosse team opened the Centennial Conference Tournament with a dominant first round victory over Muhlenberg College, 16-4, on Tuesday night. The fifth-seeded Garnet advanced to the semifinals against top-seeded Dickinson College on Thursday afternoon. 

Clay Almgren delivered a game-high seven goals, setting a new career postseason best. The senior also recorded his 261st career point, breaking the program record set by Orville Wright in 1954. 

Ryder Maston tallied three scores, recording his tenth hat trick of the season. Rex Mabbs, Owen Hoffman and Ben Zabierek also had multi-goal efforts, notching two goals apiece. 

Drew Tyson was excellent between the pipes, making 18 saves with three goals allowed in 49 minutes of action. The senior posted his highest save percentage of the season at .857. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Zabierek opened the scoring for the Garnet before Almgren took over with three goals in the period. The Mules added one score in the final minutes to trim its deficit to 4-1. The Mules outshot the visitors 10-7 in the stanza, but were turned away by nine Tyson saves.

- Muhlenberg struck first in another quarter dominated by the Garnet. After cutting its deficit to two goals, Swarthmore closed the period with four-unanswered scores. Maston and Zabierek each scored in the quarter, while Almgren added two more to his total, making it 8-2.

- The Garnet kept piling on in the third, scoring four more unanswered scores. Almgren opened the second half scoring, while Maston, Mabbs and Hoffman followed suit. Muhlenberg finally broke its scoreless drought with 3:32 remaining, but surrendered another Mabbs goal before escaping the quarter, 13-3.

- Swarthmore scored the opening three goals of the fourth with tallies from Almgren, Maston and Hoffman. The Mules added a late goal in the stanza, but had very few answers for the Garnet goaltending. 


GARNET LEADERS
Points: Almgren 7
Goals: Almgren 7
Assists: Mabbs 3
Shots: Almgren 11
Ground balls: Paul 7
Caused turnovers: Paul 2
Saves: Tyson 18

UP NEXT
The Garnet (11-7) look to advance past No. 8 Dickinson College on Thursday.