Hebert Saves Mustangs; Stops Cabrini
from press releases
OWINGS MILLS, Md. - Stevenson University men's
lacrosse junior Geoff Hebert (Lutherville/Dulaney) totaled a
career-high 15 saves to lead a defensive effort that
limited nation's third-ranked scoring offense to its lowest output
of the season en route to an 8-7 victory Saturday at Caves
Athletics Complex.
The win was the sixth out of seven this season for the Mustangs
(16-1) against a team ranked in the top 20, but more importantly,
was the program's first victory in its first game in the NCAA
Division III Men's Lacrosse Championship.
The win was also the first in seven tries for Stevenson head coach
Paul Cantabene against Cabrini, snapping an eight-game losing
streak thate dated back to March 17, 2001. Saturday was the 15th
meeting between the two former Pennsylvania Athletic Conference
(now Colonial States Athletic Conference) rivals.
With 15 saves, Hebert won his 15th game of the season in what was a
matchup of two of the nation's top goalkeepers. He entered the game
ranked fourth in the nation in goals against average and with five,
fourth quarter saves, outlasted Cabrini's Kevin Chenoweth who was
ranked sixth in GAA.
Chenoweth totaled 19 saves, including 13 in the second half, but
suffered just his second loss in 18 starts this season after
Stevenson senior Chris Baldwin (Baltimore/Calvert Hall) scored the
game-winning goal unassisted with 7:24 remaining.
The goal was the second game-winner of the season for Baldwin and
extended his consecutive games streak with at least one goal to
seven. Last Saturday against Denison, he totaled a season-high four
points with a goal and three assists.
B.J. Kletcheck scored with 2:25 remaining to pull the
Cavaliers (15-4) within one, but Hebert made two saves in the final
1:41, including one on Kletcheck with 37 seconds left to preserve a
piece of history for the Mustangs.
Stevenson's strong defensive effort was bolstered by a 21-12 edge
in ground balls in the second half combined by its winning 7-of-9
faceoffs.
Neither team was able to pull away as their were four ties and five
lead changes. The largest lead of the game was just two goals as
junior Steve Kazimer (Syracuse, N.Y./Henninger) netted his 31st
with only 18 seconds remaining in the first half to give the
Mustangs a 5-3 halftime lead.
Cabrini's Casey Grugan scored with just eight seconds left in the
third quarter to tie the game at 6-6, extending his consecutive
goals streak to 54 games, matching a 32-year old Division III
record set by Washington College's John Cheek in 1977.
Junior Richie Ford (Baltimore/Towson) scored his team-leading 40th
goal of the season with 8:12 remaining in the fourth before Baldwin
sealed the win with his 15th only 48 seconds later.
Kazimer and junior Nic Bevacqua (Boonton Township, N.J./Mountain
Lakes) led Stevenson with two goals each while Ford and senior
Brett Yoder (Parkton/Hereford) both had one goal and one
assist.
Bevacqua also helped the nation's sixth-ranked scoring defense by
totaling three caused turnovers. Senior Austin Hale
(Baltimore/Eastern) added two.
Stevenson advances to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III
Men's Lacrosse Championship where it faces Salisbury for the third
time this season. Each team has won on the other's home field with
the No. 2-ranked Sea Gulls prevailing at Caves Athletics Complex,
13-5 back on April 19 to capture their 15th consecutive CAC
title.
Salisbury advanced to the quarterfinals with a 16-10 victory at No.
11 Haverford on Saturday.
