Late Firebirds Surge Not Enough in 8-4 Loss at Hood

FREDERICK, MD – The Firebirds scored the final three goals of regulation in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to come back from a seven-goal deficit as the University of the District of Columbia men's lacrosse team was defeated by Hood College, 8-4 on Wednesday afternoon at Thomas Athletic Field.

UDC, playing without its leading scorer freshman attack Chase Fraser (Elementary Education – Aldergrove, BC/Blue Ridge School), who was injured Saturday in the Firebirds' historic first program victory, fell to 1-4 overall with today's loss. Hood, which competes in the Division III Commonwealth Conference, snapped its four-game losing streak and improved to 2-4 with the win.

Four different Firebirds scored goals today, and junior co-captain defender Zach Kjeldsen (Political Science – Salisbury, MD/Hobart College) was credited with two assists and three caused turnovers. Also, reigning East Coast Conference goalkeeper of the week Tom Yancheski stopped 14 of 22 shots on goal in a complete game effort.

Meanwhile, six different Blazers entered the scoring column for Hood, led by two goals apiece from attack Nick Druelinger and midfielder Randolph Clark. Also, attack Alex Villegas registered one goal and two assists. John Martin stopped 16 of 20 shots on goal to earn the complete game victory.

Clark wasted very little time getting the Blazers on the board as he won the game-opening faceoff, scooped up the groundball and raced down the field to score in a span of seven seconds. For the rest of the first quarter, however, neither team could generate much offense until, with just 26 seconds left, Sean Murphy finished off of an assist from Villegas to put Hood ahead, 2-0 at the end of the period.

Yancheski made six saves in the second quarter but allowed Clark to score his second unassisted goal of the day at the 7:51 mark. The Firebirds, meanwhile, were held scoreless for another period as they managed only two shots on goal. Hood took a 3-0 advantage into halftime.

Junior attack Ben Taylor (Biology – New Westminster, BC/Simon Fraser University) finally put the Firebirds on the board with his 8^th goal of the season about two minutes into the third quarter, and UDC was still within striking distance, down 3-1. But Hood then went on to score three unanswered goals in the third quarter followed by two more goals in the fourth quarter to take a commanding, 8-1 lead with 9:35 left to play in regulation.

Consecutive goals by junior midfielder Michael King (Public Administration – Kansas City, MO/St. John's University), junior co-captain midfielder Matthew Marrett (Business Management – Nantucket, MA/Dean College) and sophomore midfielder Luke Gillespie (Business Management – Maple Ridge, BC/Pfeiffer University) helped UDC pull within 8-4 with 3:18 still left to play, but in that little time remaining, the Firebirds turned the ball over four times and could not take a single shot.

The Blazers won 10-of-16 face-offs which led to eight more shots (38-30). Otherwise, it was a very evenly played game with Hood turning it over one less time than UDC (32-33) and collecting two more ground balls (42-40).  

Next up, the Firebirds will host Division II non-conference foe Post University on Saturday, March 22nd at 4:30 p.m.