Stephen Luck, Washington College
HAVERFORD, Pa. - Senior attackman Stephen Luck (Catonsville, Md./Boys' Latin) scored the game-tying goal with 1:40 left in regulation and his game-high fourth goal of the night 42 seconds into overtime to give visiting Washington College an 8-7 victory over host Haverford in a Centennial Conference men's lacrosse contest on Wednesday night at Swan Field. The Shoremen improve to 3-5 overall and 2-0 in the Centennial Conference, while the Fords drop to 3-5 and 0-2 respectively.
Trailing 7-6, Luck would level the contest with his third goal of the game with 1:40 to go on a feed from senior midfielder Luke Birnbaum (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollows Hills East). The tying goal was started on a caused turnover from freshman defenseman Sam Cloud (Alexandria, Va./St. Stephen's & St. Agnes) with 2:09 remaining. The Shoremen had two chances to take the lead, but both shots went wide and the game headed to overtime after the Fords last chance resulted in a turnover setting the stage for Luck's winner.
With the score even at 7-7, the Shoremen won the face-off to start overtime, but turned it over. However the Fords turned it over and gave the ball back to Washington. The first shot from senior attackman Sam Birnbaum (Dix Hills, N.Y./Half Hollows Hills East) sailed high 38 seconds in, but the Shoremen backed up the shot to keep the ball. Four seconds later, Luck's shot from the left side found its way into the back of the net to give Washington the walk-off victory. For Luck, the four scores match his career-high which he has now done on four occasions.
In the first quarter, the Shoremen got onto the board just 11 seconds in when freshman attackman Tyler Powers (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) scored an unassisted tally and 22 seconds later senior attackman Stephen Luck (Catonsville, Md./Boys' Latin) made it 2-0. Haverford cut the lead to 2-1 with 11:32 remaining in the first quarter on an Andrew Dalke score, but Luck made it 3-1 with 10:35 to go in the first on an unassisted goal. Sophomore attackman Stephen Goff, Jr. (Prince Frederick, Md./Calverton School) gave the Shoremen a three-goal advantage with 7:11 left on a unassisted tally. Dalke found Jack Bodine with 2:36 left in the quarter to trim the WC lead to 4-2 and that would be the score after the first quarter.
The Fords opened up the scoring in the second quarter with 13:26 to go on a man-up tally from Patrick Girard from Tav Hafner. Just 45 seconds later the hosts tied it at 4-4 when Bodine found Isaac Krier. Washington would regain the lead with 2:06 left when a Haverford player knocked the ball into his own goal to put the visitors ahead 5-4 and that would be the halftime score.
Haverford opened the third quarter scoring with 10:04 left on a Bodine goal from Krier. Chase Williams would give the Fords their first lead of the night with 2:23 remaining on a pass from Paul Hackett to give Haverford a 6-5 lead entering the fourth quarter.
Washington evened the game with 10:12 to go in the fourth quarter on an unassisted score by Birnbaum. But Geoff Geppert would give the Fords the lead back at 7-6 with 7:46 to go off of a feed from Dalke. The Fords would hold onto the lead for the next 6:06 before Luck leveled the game with 1:40 to go.
Luke Birnbaum was the only other Shoremen besides Luck to have multiple points as he had two points on a goal and an assist, both coming in the fourth quarter. In goal, sophomore goalkeeper Jackson Szurley (Lincoln, R.I./Moses Brown) made 11 saves for the Shoremen. Senior midfielder Michael Trapp (White Plains, N.Y./White Plains) was 13-for-18 in face-offs and scooped up a game-best 10 ground balls. Junior midfielder David McBrien (Bel Air, Md./Calvert Hall) had a career-best three caused turnovers, while Cloud set a personal-best with four ground balls.
Bodine and Dalke each had three points to lead the Fords with Bodine scoring twice and assisting once, while Dalke passed out two helps and scored a goal. In goal, Eric Caliendo made 12 saves for the hosts. Brandon Smith had a contest-high four caused turnovers and picked up a team-topping nine ground balls.
The Shoremen held a 38-30 advantage in shots and won 13 of the game's 19 face-offs. The Shoremen, who held a 36-30 edge in ground balls, were 12-for-16 in clears, while the Fords were 12-for-17.
With the victory, head coach Jeff Shirk registered his 50th win at Washington College as he did it in 77 games.
The Shoremen are back in action on Saturday afternoon at 1:00 p.m. when they travel to Franklin & Marshall for a Centennial Conference game.