Box Score DOYLESTOWN (PA) – The Delaware Valley University men's lacrosse team led from start to finish as the Aggies put themselves right in the middle of the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) Freedom playoff race with a 14-6 home triumph over King's College.
DelVal, in just its second year of intercollegiate competition, improved to 6-6 overall and 2-2 in conference play. The overall and MAC Freedom win totals top last year's results when the team went 5-8 and 1-5. Meanwhile, the Aggies are tied with FDU-Florham and Misericordia University for third place in the conference standings with three games remaining (the top four teams qualify for the MAC Freedom tournament). They defeated FDU-Florham earlier in the year and will travel to Misericordia for the regular-season finale at Misericordia on April 30.
It was all DelVal on Wednesday as the Aggies had advantages of 36-25 in shots and 31-25 in ground balls while committing just 12 turnovers compared to 19 by the Monarchs (2-9, 1-3). DelVal was also successful on 17 of 19 clear attempts.
The Aggies scored just 87 seconds in as
PJ Rafferty continued his torrid freshman season with an unassisted tally. Rafferty struck again 11 minutes later and then assisted on
Chris Coyle's goal with 10 ticks left in the first quarter for a 3-0 lead.
King's Brock Johnson got his team on the scoreboard with a man-up goal early in the second, but Rafferty completed his hat trick with 5:35 left in the half. DelVal won the ensuing faceoff and scored nine seconds after Rafferty goal and
Nick Shendge connected. Johnson pulled the Monarchs to within three with 2:53 remaining and that's how the teams went into the intermission.
The Aggies pulled away in the third as they scored the first four goals of the quarter.
Tyler Roberto go things started 3:06 into the quarter and
Austin Sensenig followed just 23 seconds later. Rafferty got his fourth goal of the afternoon with 7:55 left in the quarter and Sensenig made it 9-2 just 45 seconds after that tally. The teams then traded goals, Shawn Dickey for King's and Shendge for DelVal, for a 10-3 score heading into the fourth.
The Monarchs scored twice in an 18-second span to pull to within five, but sophomore
Cori Grobes scored his first collegiate goal for the Aggies. Then after King's Brett O'Neill made it 12-6, DelVal ended the game with three straight goals.
Matt Brady had two of them while
Chris Johnsen added the other.
Rafferty finished with four goals and two assists for six points, giving him 17 goals and six assists for 23 points in four MAC Freedom games this year. Sensenig had two goals and two assists for four points while Shendge had two tallies.
Jon Fogarty stopped five shots, en route to the win.
Johnson paced King's with three goals. Nick Foley grabbed six ground balls while Derek Bowman and George Pfeiffer combined for 11 saves.
DelVal will host Manhattanville College for Senior Day and a MAC Freedom contest on Saturday, April 23.
