Kyle Pienik vs. Stockton 4/11/18
Dan Gittis
12
Winner Stockton STOCK 8-3
9
Elizabethtown ETOWN 5-7
Winner
Stockton STOCK
8-3
12
Final
9
Elizabethtown ETOWN
5-7
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 F
Stockton STOCK 1 3 3 5 12
Elizabethtown ETOWN 5 2 2 0 9

Game Recap: Men's Lacrosse |

Blue Jays bitten by Stockton

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. -- Stockton held the Elizabethtown College men's lacrosse team without a goal over the final 17 minutes of Wednesday afternoon's non-conference game at Wolf Field in sending the Blue Jays to their first home loss of the season, 12-9.

Andrew Watts scored a pair of first-quarter goals as E-town built a commanding 5-1 lead, but the hosts would only score four more times the rest of the way.

The Blue Jays (5-7) certainly weren't lacking offensive opportunities, as sophomore Kyle Pienik won a career-high 18 face-offs on 25 tries. Elizabethtown turned those possessions into a 39-33 shot advantage.

Stockton closed the gap to 5-4 on the first of four goals from Eric Ellis midway through the second, but the Blue Jays pushed their lead back to three, 7-4, by halftime. Mike Scrafano tallied a man-up goal with help from Griffin Liebsch with 3:37 to go in the quarter and Mike DiGenova scored his 20th goal of the year in the final 10 seconds of the half.

Ellis and fellow midfielder Tommy Gallo combined for every Ospreys' (8-3) point in the third. Ellis scored a man-up goal off a pass from Gallo at 12:19 of the period and recorded another by himself at 10:12. Gallo tied the game at seven with 9:32 to go, ending a run of three Stockton goals in less than three minutes.

But Elizabethtown would finish the third in similar fashion to the second. Ben Hiltebeitel's second goal of the game put the Jays back in front with 8:51 left and Jeremy Klipple bounced a shot over Stockton goalie Justin Ruiz for his first goal of the season to make it a two-goal game, 9-7, heading to the fourth.

Unfortunately for Elizabethtown, the offensive well went dry following Klipple's goal.

Five different players scored for Stockton in the fourth and Zack Aho's shorthanded goal with 5:07 remaining turned out to be the game-winner. The Blue Jays were held off the board, despite Pienik winning all six face-offs in the quarter, in large part because of eight giveaways. After turning the ball over just six times in the first half, Elizabethtown committed 14 turnovers in the second.

The Osprey's Ruiz, who actually made six saves in the first --his most in any quarter-- when the Blue Jays raced out to a four-goal lead, made 15 stops overall, including each of the three on goal in the fourth.

Gallo supplied a game-high five points for Stockton on two goals and three helpers. Joey Tiernan and Aho chipped in with two goals, while Chris Holleritter had seven ground balls and a pair of caused turnovers.

Pienik added to his fantastic day at the dot with a game-high nine ground balls, with Liebsch picking up eight to go with two caused turnovers. Hiltebeitel, Scrafano and Watts finished with two goals each, and Austin Dews also scored for the Blue and Gray.

E-town goalie Tom Mahoney, making his sixth straight start, stopped 11 shots and has posted double-digit saves in five of the last six games.

Elizabethtown returns to Wolf Field on Saturday to face Landmark rival Scranton at 2 p.m. The Blue Jays will honor 2018 seniors Kyle Coats, Michael Hofstedt, Jon Jones, Christian Neelon and Jens Stadeli during a pregame ceremony.
 
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