Dickson Helps Delaware Upset No. 12 UMass

from press release

NEWARK, Del. -- After letting a four-goal second half lead slip away, the University of Delaware turned to its most potent weapon.

Blue Hen All-American Curtis Dickson (at right), who entered the game as the nation’s most prolific point-scorer, came to the rescue once again as he broke a 6-6 deadlock with a man-up goal with 10:10 left to play and added an insurance goal less than three minutes later to lead Delaware to a key 9-6 Colonial Athletic Association men’s lacrosse upset win over No. 12 Massachusetts Saturday at blustery Delaware Stadium.

Delaware (6-6, 1-2 CAA), which moved back into the thick of the CAA playoff race with the victory, snapped a two-game losing streak and won its first league game of the season after losing its first two by a combined three goals.

The Blue Hens downed league newcomer Massachusetts for the third time in the last four meetings dating all the way back to 1994 and downed a Top 20 opponent for the second time this season after losing three straight.

Dickson, who upped his season totals to 45 goals and 57 points, finished with a team-high three goals and posted his seventh hat trick of the season while extending his goal-scoring streak to 21 straight games and his school-record point-scoring streak to 52 straight contests.

The Tewaaraton Trophy National Player of the Year candidate had entered the game leading the nation in total points and ranked second in total goals, goals per game, and points per game.

Athlete photoJunior Anthony Ruiz (bottom left), who moved to attack and started his first game of the season, added two goals for the Blue Hens while senior Kevin Kaminski had a goal and an assist and sophomore Grant Kaleikau dished out two assists. Junior goalkeeper Noah Fossner shook off a first-half injury that forced him to leave the game and finished with nine saves to earn the win.

Massachusetts (7-4, 2-2 CAA), which lost its second straight game following a four-game win streak, got three goals and assist from Will Manny with Anthony Biscardi adding a goal and two assists and goalkeeper Tim McCormack registering eight saves.

The Minutemen, who were playing for the third straight game without leading scorer Art Kell (21 goals) due to a foot injury, committed 20 turnovers and were held to just three goals over the first 45 minutes before mounting a comeback.

After Massachusetts broke the ice with a goal from Ryan Hantverk just 59 seconds into the game, the Blue Hens took control with five straight goals from five different players to take a 5-1 advantage.

Ruiz opened the scoring with 7:43 left in the opening quarter with John Austin connecting just 27 seconds later and Dickson netting his first goal of the day at the 5:30 mark. Kaminski scored a goal with 11:17 left in the first half to push the lead to 4-1 and then fed Martin Cahill on a score less than two minutes later to push the lead to 5-1.

Massachusetts got a goal from Bobby Hayes with 3:36 left in the opening half to cut the UD lead to 5-2 at the break, but the Hens got one back when Ruiz opened the second half with his second goal just 4:37 into the stanza.

But the Minutemen began their comeback from there. Biscardi started a four-goal run when he scored off a Manny feed with 7:34 left to end the third quarter and Manny followed with a natural hat trick to open the final stanza, scoring at the 13:49, 12:32, and 10:41 marks to knot the score at 6-6.

However, the Hens put a stop to the run as they took advantage of a one-minute unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on UMass’ Greg Rushing at the 10:37 mark as Dickson took a feed from Kaleikau and scored 27 seconds into the man-up opportunity at the 10:10 mark to break the tie.

Dickson then added some insurance with an unassisted goal with 7:42 mark and Nick Elsmo put an exclamation mark on the victory as he scored off another Kaleikau feed at the 2:46 mark to ice the victory.