ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Junior
Brian Kolen (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) scored six goals as seventh-ranked Gettysburg College held on for an 11-10 victory over Muhlenberg College in Centennial Conference men's lacrosse action at Scotty Wood Stadium Sunday afternoon.
Kolen tallied six of Gettysburg's (8-3, 2-1 CC) first nine goals and became the 17th player in program history to reach 100 for his career. He also added two ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior
Blake Gray (Reisterstown, Md./McDonogh School) scored two goals and junior
Michael McCormick (Lorton, Va./Paul VI Catholic) recorded a goal and three assists for the Bullets. Freshman
Scott MacMillan (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) picked up a dozen saves and sophomore
Alex Ulrich (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary's) scooped nine ground balls to go with a goal and assist.
Ethan Grossman paced Muhlenberg (8-2, 1-1 CC) with four goals and three assists and James Dalimonte added three goals and one assist. Frankie Feaster corralled 10 ground balls, while goalie Garrett Pope stopped 19 shots.
Kolen gave the Bullets the early lead with back-to-back tallies in the first five minutes. Pope posted six saves over the remainer of the first quarter and Grossman turned in his first tally to set the score at 2-1 entering the second frame.
Another two-goal spurt by the Bullets opened the next period as Kolen ripped one into the top of the net and senior
Andrew Garstka (Springfield, Va./Paul VI Catholic) followed just over a minute later with a goal to make it 4-1.
The Mules answered seven seconds later as Feaster scooped up the face-off and dished it to Grossman to kick off a three-goal run by the hosts. Another goal by Grossman tied the game 4-4 with 5:20 to go in the half.
Kolen made sure Gettysburg had the lead at the break, grabbing a pass from McCormick and tossing it home for a 5-4 advantage.
Once again, the Bullets began a quarter with the first two goals as Gray lit the lamp twice in the opening 1:29 of the third, pushing the lead to 7-4. Muhlenberg refused to back down, slicing the deficit to one with back-to-back goals by Dalimonte and PJ Lombara. After a seven-minute lull in the attack, Kolen regained a two-goal margin for the visitors with his 100th career tally with 4:36 left in the third quarter. Grossman would cut it back down to a one goal lead just over a minute later.
Gettysburg and Muhlenberg exchanged goals throughout the fourth quarter. Kolen tallied his final goal to start the fourth period and MacMillan came up with a pair of stops over the next eight minutes to maintain the two-goal lead. Thomas Murphy finally broke through for the Mules with 1:28 left, the first of a combined five goals by the two teams over the final 88 seconds.
McCormick scored an empty netter with 54 seconds left and after Dalimonte trimmed the lead once again, Ulrich went straight from the face-off for his first goal of the season to push the margin back to two (11-9). Dalimonte tallied the final score with five seconds left.
Gettysburg led in shots (43-41), while Muhlenberg led in ground balls (29-25).
The Bullets host Swarthmore College next Saturday at 1 p.m.