Tamed: No. 4 Limestone Rocks No. 8 St. Leo
from press release
Gaffney, S.C. — Fourth-ranked Limestone combined a
balanced scoring attack with a solid defensive effort in route to a
17-4 victory over eighth-ranked Saint Leo on Saturday in an NCAA
Division II men's lacrosse south region non-conference showdown at
"The Rock". The victory moved the Saints to 5-1 overall, 5-0 in the
region while Saint Leo dropped to 9-2 overall and 6-2 within the
region.
Limestone, which scored the first 11 goals of the game, extended a
1-0 lead after one quarter by outscoring the Lions 5-0 in the
second to lead 6-0 at halftime. The Saints came out strong in third
quarter scoring only 0:55 into the period and three more times over
the first five minutes to push the advantage to 10-0 (10:00). The
Saints held Saint Leo off the board until the 3:41 mark of the
third stanza, the first of three straight tallies for the Lions to
close within eight early in the fourth (13:59) before a flurry of
five Limestone goals over the next 9:02 of action gave the Saints a
16-3 cushion with 4:57 to play.
While Limestone had seven players register a point including six
goal scorers, the defense was just as powerful. Sophomore keeper
Steve Gartleman (Seaford, N.Y.) made 10 saves and yielded four
goals in 55:28 of action. Gartleman entered the contest tops in
NCAA Division II with a 4.90 goals against average. The Saints
forced 34 Saint Leo turnovers and held an offense averaging over 43
shots to just 21. The Saints also limited the Lions to 48% (13-27)
on clears as compared to the visitor's average of .83% prior to
Saturday. Limestone also won the groundball category 41-29 against
a Saint Leo team that was plus-20 (50.78-30.0) heading into the
contest.
As for the Limestone offense, a trio of underclassmen posted hat
tricks, those by junior Brian Patridge (Columbus, OH), sophomore
Jackson Decker (Port Moody, British Columbia) and freshman Riley
Loewen (Burnaby, British, Columbia). Seniors Jake Rogalia
(Liverpool, N.Y.), Mike Poerstel (Annapolis, MD) and Teddy Prager
(Seaford, N.Y.) tallied two goals each while Rogalia added three
assists to lead all scorers with five points. Finding the back of
the net once apiece for the Saints were junior Sam Buppert
(eldersburg, MD) and freshman Todd Kozak (Mississauga, Ontario).
Loewen, Patridge and Poerstel added one assist each while freshman
Tor Reinholdt (Port Moody, British Columbia) added a pair of
helpers.
As for Saint Leo, senior Kyle Marceau (Concord, NH) scored twice
with one each for senior Joe Guerin (Palm Beach Gardens, FL) and
freshman George Proechel (Orlando, FL) who also added an assist.
Lions' keeper junior David Erdman (Mt. Sinai, N.Y.) made nine saves
and yielded 12 goals in 51:48 of action.
Limestone, which is in the midst of arguably the program's most
grueling four game regular season stretch, will visit ninth-ranked,
in-region and Conference Carolinas rival Queens University of
Charlotte next Wednesday, March 31 (6:00 p.m.). The Royals defeated
St. Andrews Presbyterian College 8-4 on Saturday and are now 7-1 on
the season including 3-0 within conference action. Including
Queens, the combined record of Limestone's last four opponents
entering those games was 24-3.
Saint Leo returns to action on April 6 hosting Rollins at 6:00 p.m.
