The Cavaliers men’s lacrosse team defeated Fairleigh Dickinson University 11-6 on Saturday, March 19, to improve to 3-3 on the season.
Nine different Cavaliers tallied goals for Cabrini in the win. Senior midfielder Dan Terenick and sophomore attackman Bobby Thorp both scored twice and sophomore attackman Jeff Crosby picked up his team-leading 11th goal of the season.
“Having a balanced offensive attack is very important for us,” Thorp said. “Getting everyone involved and contributing against a team like FDU definitely builds confidence in the offense and helps put points on the board.”
“It just shows you how much we are starting to mesh together as a team,” Terenick said. “Having different people contribute to the win shows how deep our roster is and that we are all finding our grooves on the field.”
Among the other goal scorers for the Cavs were senior midfielder Paul Skulski, who scored once and added three assists and freshman longstick midfielder Bill McCabe, who scored his first collegiate goal.
The Cavs went into halftime with a 7-2 lead over Fairleigh Dickinson, thanks to a five-goal second quarter. After FDU cut the lead to three goals in the fourth quarter, Cabrini responded with four fourth-quarter goals to hold off the Devils.
“We played with a little poise on offense, we shared the ball and we took better shots,” head coach Steve Colfer said in a recent phone interview. “I think since we changed our lineup after the first two games of the season our shot distribution and offense have been more balanced.”
The Cavaliers outshot Fairleigh Dickinson 37-27 and collected 23 ground balls. The Cavs only committed 14 turnovers in the game compared to 22 by FDU. Sophomore goalkeeper Erick Zarzecki made 11 saves in the victory to collect his third win of the season.
Already six games into the 2011 season, the Cavs have yet to face a CSAC opponent this season. Their first such game will take place on Saturday, March 26, at Shenandoah University.
“Preparing for each team is key to the success we have against our in-league opponents,” Thorp said. “We have to come out firing and playing our game and good things will happen.”
The Cavs have scored at least 11 goals in all three of their victories this season and have been held to eight or fewer in their trio of losses.
“Our guys will be ready, we played a tough out-of-conference schedule to prepare us for that,” Colfer said. “I think that we’ll have a good week of practice and we’ll be ready to roll on Saturday.”
“We practice everyday to be better than the day before and so far, from what I see, we are getting better and better as the days pass,” Terenick said. “The out-of-conference games allow us to find all the kinks and loose bolts and fix them so when we have to play the conference games we are in the best possible position to win each game.”
Games against CSAC opponents will be of huge value for the Cavaliers as they continue their quest for an 11th-straight CSAC championship and, ultimately, a trip to the NCAA tournament. Six of Cabrini’s last nine games this season will be against CSAC opponents.
“We know that our ticket to the NCAA tournament is through our conference, so we’ve always been focused on that,” Colfer said.
