Men's Lacrosse: No. 6 Knights Dispatch Saints 23-2

• Opponent: Mercyhurst North East
• Score: CCBC Essex 23 Mercyhurst North East 2
• Records: No. 6 CCBC Essex (4-0) Mercyhurst North East (0-2) 
• Locations: Rosedale, Md.

Recap by Coleman Hamstead


By the Quarter

1^st Quarter

• Collin Stasch starts the scoring for the Knights one minute in off a nice steal and pass from Cole Quattrocche
• Knights applying a lot of pressure early and forcing turnovers
• Evan Skinner makes it 2-0 Knights at 3:13
• The Knights controlled possession almost the entire first five minutes
• Quattrocche from Dustin Stone brings the Knights lead to three midway through the first
• Stasch forces a turnover and gets his second goal on a breakaway 16 seconds later
• With 5:37 to go, Skinner gets his second goal to make it 5-0 Knights
• 38 seconds later Stasch gets a hat trick bringing the Knights to a commanding 6-0 lead
• 18 seconds later Quattrocche gets his second goal off a pass from Stasch making it three goals in 56 seconds for the Knights
• Knights scoring relentlessly on every possession
• Saints make a goalie switch with 4:31 to go in the first
• Dylan McCleaft brings the Knights lead to eight off an assist by Stasch with 3:22 remaining in the quarter
• 8-0 Knights after one

2^nd Quarter

• At 3:13, Cameron Welter scores the Knights first goal
• Wes Rumple brings the Knights lead to double digits 5:30 into the second
• Saints getting almost no opportunities for offensive possessions
• McCleaft gets his second goal off an assist by Shane Hanlon at 6:28 to make it 11-0 Knights
• Hanlon gets his first goal of the game with 5:14 remaining in the second
• Great pressure and defense from the Knights
• Saints struggling to get ball past mid-field
• 12-0 Knights at halftime

3^rd Quarter

• Thaddeus Brown replaces Brody Bartell as Knights' goalie for the second half
• Saints get the first goal of the half at 2:46 by Malcom Moser
• The Knights respond 12 seconds later with a goal by Austin Atkinson off an assist by Rumple
• Much slower paced third quarter compared to the first half
• McCleaft gets a hat trick of his own with 3:43 to go in the third
• Austin Atkinson gets his second goal a short time after off an assist by Hunter Alchin
• Austin Evans makes it 16-1 Knights off an assist by Rumple with 44.4 to go in the third
• Jacob Norton scores for the Saints off an assist by Moser in the final seconds of the quarter
• 16-2 Knights after three

4^th Quarter

• Alchin scores 4:01 into final frame
• McCleaft gets his fourth goal off an assist by Alchin 1:32 later
• Alchin scores again on a nice shot at 7:43
• McCleaft brings his scoring tally to five making it 20-2 Knights with 7:16 to go
• Evans scores his second with 5:54 remaining
• Long-pole middie Victor Auriemma scores a man-up goal to bring the Knights lead to 20
• AJ Thompson gets the final goal of the game off an assist by Austin Atkinson with 27.7 seconds to go

Top Performers

                Knights: McCleaft (5 goals), Stasch (3 goals, 2 assists), Quattrocche (2 goals, 1 assist), Skinner (2 goals), Welter (1 goal), Rumple (1 goal, 2 assists) Hanlon (1 goal, 1 assist), Austin Atkinson (2 goals, 1 assist), Evans (2 goals), Alchin (2 goal 2 assists), Auriemma (1 goal), Thompson (1 goal), Hetrick (1 assist), Stone (1 assist)

Saints: Moser (1 goal, 1 assist) Norton (1 goal)

Quotable

• "I think we are focusing on ourselves," Knights' head coach Tim King said when asked about jumping out to a quick lead in all four games this season. "Because of that we are getting good results and that's good news,"
• "Just good sound defense, communication and these guys playing together as a family," King said of his defense's performance.
• "Our attack was riding hard and causing a lot of turnovers that turned into goals," Collin Stasch said regarding his first quarter hat trick.
• "Today was a good game, but I really have to credit it to the whole team," Dylan McCleaft said about his five-goal day. "Everybody came together, we shared the ball a lot and everybody got theirs today."

Up Next

No. 1 Genesee C.C. | Saturday, March 11 | 12:00 p.m. | Batavia, N.Y.