Bullets defense comes up strong in win against Widener
Junior Connor Sweeney wins a faceoff against Widener University.
Photo credit: David Sinclair
By Steph Karalis, Staff Writer
Coming off a win against Eastern University, the men’s lacrosse team entered Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium ready to play Widener University. The Bullets started the game strong with a ground ball pick up by sophomore Chris Verdeur, which gave the opportunity for the Bullets offense to have possession.
Only 2 minutes and 35 seconds into the first quarter, senior captain Reed Barbe was able to get the first goal of the game for the Bullets, his fifth of the season. The first goal set the tone for the game and not even a minute after it happened, Bullet’s sophomore Tommy Heller put away another goal for Gettysburg, his eleventh of the season.
The rest of the first quarter was back and forth, but Gettysburg’s strong defense only allowed Widener to have one shot on goal, which was saved by junior goalie Tim Brady, keeping the Bullets in the lead 2-0.
This back and fourth play continued into the second quarter until Widener’s sophomore Brady Franks dumped the ball to sophomore Kevin Kerby scoring Widener’s first goal of the game, his third of the season.
Proceeding Widener’s goal, Gettysburg’s junior Connor Sweeney won the face-off and enabled Gettysburg to have three attempts on goal made by first-year Brian Kolen, followed by senior Ivan Morris, and senior captain Sean Fumai.
Fumai was able to have another opportunity to shoot on goal, scoring off an assist from Barbe, Fumai’s seventeenth of the season. The second quarter ended with Gettysburg in the lead 3-1.
The second half of the game started off with a goal made by Gettysburg sophomore Blake Gray assisted by Barbe, Gray’s fifteenth of the season, putting Gettysburg in the lead 4-1.
A penalty on Gettysburg’s first-year Mitch Wykoff allowed for Widener to capitalize off the man up and get a goal made by senior Tyler Schulte off an assist by first year Paz Gismondi.
Gray was able to get another goal in for the Bullets off an assist made by first-year Brian Kolen, Gray’s sixteenth goal of the season. This kept Gettysburg in the lead at the start of the final quarter 5-2.
In the final quarter of the game, first-year Connor Hunt won the first faceoff for the Bullets enabling first year Kolen to have yet another assist and a goal made by Heller, his twelfth of the season.
A penalty was called on Wykoff for an illegal body check, but that did not deter the Bullets from going to goal. Gettysburg sophomore Will DeMartin was able to get a goal off the man-down, his first goal of the season.
Despite Gettysburg’s ability to score with a man down, Widener took advantage off this opportunity scoring their last goal of the game made by Franks off an assist made by Schulte, Franks’ third goal of the season.
Gettysburg Sophomore Jack Harvey was on fire for the remainder of the game scoring the final goals, which included one off a man-down. Gettysburg ended the game with a 9-3 lead.
The Bullets outscored Widener 48-19 to come away with the win. The defense also came up big for Gettysburg as they were able to maintain the lead the whole game.
Gettysburg will be playing their first Centennial Conference game at 1pm this upcoming Saturday March 25th against Ursinus College. Ursinus is currently ranked number 14th and Gettysburg is now 15th, so it should be a Centennial Conference battle.
