No. 2 Gettysburg Crunches Hampden-Sydney

from staff reports

GETTYSBURG, Pa. - Junior Kyle McGrath (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) scored a career-high five goals and handed out two assists while classmate Joe Brody (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) added four goals and two helpers as No. 2 Gettysburg rolled to an 18-7 season-opening victory over Hampden-Sydney College in non-conference men's lacrosse action Saturday afternoon at a frigid Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.

The win was never in doubt for the Bullets, who outscored the Tigers 11-0 over the first 21:37 of the game.

Senior Rob Triplett (McLean, Va./McLean) contributed two goals and two assists for Gettysburg while junior Josh Reichert (Englewood, Colo./Kent) and senior Zach Pucci (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) scored two goals apiece. Senior Tom O'Donnell (Montgomeryville, Pa./La Salle College) added one goal and two assists.

Seniors Andrew Mahoney and Kenny Mathison led Hampden-Sydney (1-2) with three goals each.

McGrath was on fire right from the start, scoring three of his team's first four goals as the Bullets raced to a 4-0 lead just 5:47 into the contest. Gettysburg led 7-0 at the end of the first quarter, in which it outshot the Tigers 16-5.

Brody scored the final goal of the first quarter and the first tally of the second quarter before Pucci connected twice in a row to make it 10-0 with 8:23 left in the opening half. O'Donnell completed the Bullets early run when he scored 30 seconds later before Cole Hawthorne put Hampden-Sydney on the scoreboard at the 7:53 mark. But Gettysburg closed the half on a 3-0 run and took a 13-1 lead into the locker room.

In the second stanza the Bullets picked up where they left off, getting goals from McGrath and Triplett in the first 58 seconds to open up their largest lead of the day at 15-1. The Tigers stopped the bleeding with three unanswered goals, but they were unable to reduce the deficit under 11 the rest of the way.

Senior Zach Furshman (Miami, Fla./Kent School [Conn.]) played the first three quarters in goal for the Bullets and finished with nine saves while yielding four goals to pick up the win. Classmate Charles Floeckher (Lutherville, Md./Boys Latin School) made four saves and gave up three goals in 10:34 of action while senior John Gilfillan (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) played the final 4:26 between the pipes.

Senior Tim Stanton (Phoenix, Md./Loyola Blakefield) had a strong day at the face-off X, where he was 14-for-19.

Junior Mark Bagby made 16 saves for Hampden-Sydney.