Men’s Lacrosse Squanders Early Lead; Falls to Molloy 20-12 in Inaugural Season Finale

WASHINGTON, DC – The Firebirds scored the game's first three goals and led 4-2 at the end of the first period, but the second and third periods were dominated by the Lions, who went on to win by a final score of 20-12 in both teams' season finale on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in the nation's capital.

UDC ended the school's inaugural men's lacrosse season with a record of 3-8, including a 2-6 mark in the very competitive East Coast Conference. Molloy won its second straight game to improve to 8-6 overall and 4-4 in league play.

Freshman attack Chase Fraser (Elementary Education – Aldergrove, BC/Blue Ridge School) registered a team-high five points on four goals and one assist, and sophomore defender Luke Gillespie (Business Management – Maple Ridge, BC/Pfeiffer University) finished with four points on three goals and one assist to lead the Firebirds offensively.

Tom Yancheski (Sociology – Phoenix, MD/Harford) stopped 16 of 32 (50-percent) of the Lions' shots on goal in 45 minutes of work. Sophomore Pat Payne (Environmental Science – Catonsville, MD/CCBC Catonsville) came on in relief to play the 4^th quarter, making 10 saves while allowing only four goals.

Molloy was led offensively by the No. 5 and No. 9 ranked goal scorers in the ECC - attackers Joe Leonard (four goals, three assists) and Tom Englehardt (five goals, one assist), respectively. Midfielder Peter Clark also added three goals and one assist, and face-off specialist Frank Scuilla won 29-of-35 face-offs while collecting a game-high 17 ground balls.

Goalkeeper John Grebe allowed 12 goals while making six saves in a complete game victory.

In the first period, Gillespie, freshman midfielder Russell Lloyd (Political Science – Clifton, VA/Robinson Secondary) and junior defender Kamaal Stanley (Business Management – Saratoga Springs, NY/SUNY Delphi) each scored unassisted goals to help UDC quickly grab a 3-0 lead by the 7:15 mark. Leonard got the Lions back in the game with back-to-back unassisted goals in a 28-second span, scoring at 4:49 and 4:21, respectively. Gillespie would add his second goal of the day with 1:35 remaining on the clock to make it 4-2, and that's how it would stand at the end of the period.

The second period, however, belonged to Molloy, as the Lions would outscore UDC, 7-3. Kevin Teresky started the scoring with an unassisted goal a minute into the period. Junior defender Zach Kjeldsen, playing out of position as an attack for the last few games of the season, would score his first goal of the season less than 30 seconds later to up the Firebirds' lead to 5-3. But beginning with another set of back-to-back goals by Leonard, the Lions out-scored UDC 6-2 the rest of the period, including two goals in the last 38 seconds to give Molloy a 9-7 lead at halftime.

In the third period, UDC out-scored Molloy 3-1 in the first seven-and-a-half minutes thanks to goals by Quinton Pavan (Childhood Education – Port Coquitlam, BC/Blue Ridge HS), junior attack Ben Taylor (Biology – New Westminster, BC/Simon Fraser University) and Fraser. The goal by Fraser – his second of the afternoon – evened the score at 10 with 7:29 remaining. But Connor Slane's goal at the 6:51 mark kicked off a 6-0 run by the Lions to close out the third period and give Molloy a commanding 16-10 lead.

Jon Camposa opened the scoring in the fourth period on a man-up goal 19 seconds into the period off of an assist by Tom Turner. Back-to-back goals by Fraser brought UDC within five (17-12), but Molloy closed out the game on a 3-0 run to win by its largest margin of the afternoon, 20-12.

Fraser finished his rookie season leading all ECC freshmen with 37 points on 31 goals and six assists. Also, Gillespie – who wowed the UDC crowd at Georgetown Multi-Sport Field today with his no-look, behind-the-back rocket shot from 30 yards out – managed 18 goals and six assists from his defender position and led the team with 51 ground balls.

UDC loses two seniors from this year's inaugural team: Clay Robbins and Donnel Jones.