Box Score
LANCASTER, Pa. – Gettysburg rallied from an early 6-2 deficit and the second-ranked and undefeated Bullets held on down the stretch, earning a thrilling 10-8 Centennial Conference (CC) men's lacrosse victory at Franklin & Marshall College Wednesday afternoon.
With the win, Gettysburg head coach Hank Janczyk collected his 400th career victory, becoming just the second NCAA Division III men's lacrosse in all divisions to reach the milestone. Now in his 28th season at Gettysburg, he has earned 355 of those wins at the helm of the Bullets.
In a game that was tied three times, senior Bijan Firouzan (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mount Lebanon) posted three goals, one assist, and five ground balls to lead the Bullets (14-0, 7-0 CC), who tied the longest winning streak in school history and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Centennial Conference playoffs. Classmates Jimmy Morris (Waccabuc, N.Y./John Jay) and Robby Maddux (Baltimore, Md./St. Paul's) added two goals and one assist apiece, with Maddux becoming just the seventh player in program history to reach 200 points when he scored with 28 seconds left to seal the win. Junior Paul Werner (Westfield, N.J./Seton Hall Prep) contributed two goals.
Sophomore long-stick midfielder Chris Palladino (Basking Ridge, N.J./Ridge) paced the Gettysburg defense with seven ground balls while senior Tim Brady (Charlotte, N.C./Providence) made eight saves. Freshman Connor Sweeney (Great Falls, Va./Potomac School) finished 13-for-19 on face-offs.
Sean Rogers paced Franklin & Marshall (7-8, 4-3 CC) with three goals while Michael Bossidy handed out four assists.
The Bullets never led over the first three quarters, and the Diplomats took an early 2-0 lead when they struck for a pair of man-up goals over the opening 5:37. But Werner and Firouzan each scored inside the final 2:36 of the opening quarter to make it a 2-2 game. Sophomore Reed Barbe (Greenwich, Conn./Suffield Academy) assisted on Werner's goal while junior Jameson Smith (Glen Ridge, N.J./Glen Ridge) fed Firouzan.
Franklin & Marshall used a 4-0 run over the opening 11:40 of the second quarter, including another man-up tally, to assume its 6-2 advantage. But Gettysburg outscored F&M 8-2 the rest of the way, starting with the last two goals of the half to cut the deficit in half. Firouzan bounced home a shot off a feed from Maddux with 1:24 on the clock before Jimmy Morris also went low from 10 yards out with 37 ticks showing, making it a 6-4 game at the break.
The Morris twins accounted for the only two goals of the third quarter to tie the game heading into the final period. Senior Brendan Morris (Waccabuc, N.Y./John Jay) scored from the right post off another Barbe dish before Jimmy Morris' runner made it 6-6 with 1:03 left on the third-quarter clock.
Jimmy Morris set up Firouzan with 11:11 remaining, as the Bullets took their first lead of the afternoon. Philip Gamble scored his second goal of the game with 8:35 left to tie the game (7-7) for the third and final time before Werner gave the Orange and Blue the lead for good for with a driving goal at the 6:13 mark, 19 seconds after a Bullet timeout.
Gettysburg won the ensuing face-off, but turned it over to F&M. However, Werner won back possession for the Bullets, intercepting a pass and setting up a fast break that ended with Maddux cutting through several defenders and scoring to make it 9-7 with 5:15 to go.
F&M stayed alive when Chad Gamble scored with 2:53 remaining. But Rogers hit the post with just under two minutes remaining and Brendan Morris caused a turnover on a clear. Firouzan scooped up the loose ball before finding a wide-open Maddux, who got behind the goalie and tossed the ball into a wide-open net with 28 seconds left for his 200th point.
Wednesday Notebook
Ursinus clinched a home semifinal game with an 11-5 victory over Haverford. The Bears will be making just their second-ever Centennial playoff appearance and hosting their first-ever Conference tourney game.
Tyler White scored the game-winning goal with 1:06 left to lift Dickinson past Muhlenberg, 9-8. Jason Mertz had two goals and three assists for the Mules, becoming just the fifth player in program history to amass 100 or more career points (103).
Washington College scored twice in the final eight seconds of regulation and notched the game-winner 3:09 in overtime to shock Swarthmore, 10-9. Tyler Powers scored twice sandwiching the game-tying goal by Stephen Luck.