Box Score

GRANTHAM, Pa. – Senior Sean Fumai (Weston, Conn./Weston) scored a career-high five goals and the fifth-ranked Gettysburg College men's lacrosse team used a big second half to capture an 11-4 season-opening victory at Messiah College in non-conference action Saturday evening.
 
The Bullets, who won their season opener for the 12th year in a row, trailed 2-0 with less than a minute left in the first half before embarking on a game-breaking 9-0 run that spanned parts of the final three quarters.
 
Sophomore Blake Gray (Reisterstown, Md./McDonogh School) added three goals and an assist for Gettysburg, which outshot Messiah 41-30 and held a 32-17 advantage in ground balls. Sophomore transfer Jack Harvey (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) dished out three assists in his collegiate debut while classmate Sam Kaplan (Niskayuna, N.Y./Niskayuna) added two goals and one assist.
 
Junior Tim Brady (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) turned aside seven shots in goal for the Bullets while sophomore long-stick midfielder Chris Verdeur (Villanova, Pa./Shipley School) notched three ground balls and two caused turnovers. At the X, freshman Connor Hunt (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) enjoyed an impressive collegiate debut, winning 8 of 10 face-offs, while junior Connor Sweeney (Great Falls, Va./Potomac School) went 5-for-7.
 
Matthew Franken led the Falcons, who were also playing the season opener, with two goals while Sam Stengel made 13 saves, with eight coming in the first half.
 
The two sides played to a scoreless draw in the first quarter, when the Bullets outshot Messiah 10-7. Franken put the Falcons on the scoreboard with a pair of goals four minutes apart to make it 2-0 with 6:46 left in the opening half.
 
Fumai broke up Stengel's shutout when he converted with 27 seconds left, making it a 2-1 game at the half.
 
Messiah blanked the Bullets over the opening five minutes of the third quarter, but that's when the floodgates opened for the Orange and Blue. Gray and sophomore Andrew Garstka (Springfield, Va./Paul VI Catholic) netted back-to-back tallies to hand the Bullets their first lead (3-2) of the game before Fumai took over. After missing nearly the entire 2016 with an injury, he showed little signs of rust, scoring three of the team's next four goals as Gettysburg's lead ballooned to 7-2 at the end of the period. Kaplan also scored during the team's third-quarter flurry.
 
The onslaught continued in the final period, starting with Kaplan's final goal with 10:28 left. Gray then completed his hat trick with back-to-back markers, making it a 9-2 game with 5:29 remaining.
 
Messiah ended its drought with a goal at the 4:17 mark before Fumai buried his final goal in a man-up opportunity with 3:05 left. The Falcons set the final score with 1:10 to go.
 
Gettysburg plays its home opener on Wednesday, when it takes on Goucher College at 3:30 p.m. in another non-conference outing.