The Cabrini men’s lacrosse team played host to visiting Hampden-Sydney College Saturday, March 8. A close game in the beginning ended with the Cavaliers pulling away in the second half in a 14-8 victory over the Tigers.
The game started with three quick goals from the Tigers. The first came a minute-and-a-half into the game by Mike Funk. He would score again about two minutes later as well. Abbot Wallenborn would put the Tigers up 3-0 five minutes into the game.
The Cavaliers answered back almost immediately with four unanswered goals. Evan Downey put Cabrini on the board only five seconds after Hampden-Sydney scored their last goal. Tyler Johnston tied the game with a pair of goals towards the end of the half, his second coming with only 14 seconds to play in the first quarter. By the end of this one Johnston would have four goals and four assists. He was very modest, though, when talking about his success during the game.
“We have six guys on the offensive side playing well. Anybody on our offensive side can have a game like that” Johnston said later after the game.
The two teams traded goals back in forth in the second quarter. Damien Sobieski and Mike Leyden scored for the Cavaliers. Thomas Armstrong and Sam Rapoport scored for the Tigers. Rapoport’s tying goal came with 15 seconds to go in the second quarter. This brought the score to 5-5 after one half of play.
The second half was dominated all by Cabrini. The Cavaliers outscored the Tigers 9-3. An early goal by Corey Elmer and a pair of Sobieski goals with the man advantage helped the team increase their lead to 8-5 in the third quarter. Sobieski’s second goal of the game made him the 21st Cabrini player to reach the 100 career point plateau. Johnston would add his third goal of the game at the end of the quarter. Rapoport would get one back for Hampden-Sydney with just two seconds to play. The score was 9-6 after three quarters of play.
Leyden stole the show in the fourth quarter, scoring three consecutive goals in a span of four minutes. The Tigers would add two more goals late in the quarter. The goals came from James Hughes and Armstrong. It was too little too late though for the visiting Tigers as Cabrini would take this game 14-8. This is the first time the Cavaliers have started a season 4-0 since the 2008 season. Their fourth win of that season? A 14-9 win over Hampden-Sydney.
“They came out strong and like that, every team we play is gonna come out strong. And we have to be ready against every team, every week.” Jonhston wasn’t afraid to give credit to Hampden-Sydney for the great game they played as well.
The Cavaliers will face off against Gettysburg College this Wednesday, March 12. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m. here at the Edith Robb Dixon Field.
