Doylestown (Pa.) – The visiting Widener Pride got out to a big lead early in the game and held the Delaware Valley University men's lacrosse team at bay as it secured a 23-13 non-conference victory.
The Aggies (3-3) found themselves down by four under five minutes into the game before PJ Rafferty set up Dylan Brasch for his team-leading 17th goal of the season and a 4-1 game.
The Pride (5-1) netted the next three before Brett Ziegler found the back of the net to make it 7-2 with 5:47 remaining in the first. Widener went on to score four more times to take a commanding 11-2 lead into the second frame.
The visitors scored the first three of the second to take a double-digit lead before Brasch rifled a shot home from 15 yards out to make it 14-3. Widener outscored the Aggies, 3-1, over the final five minutes of the first half with Brandon Keller potting the lone goal for the green and gold with under a minute to play on the clock.
Widener added another early in the second half and kept DelVal off the board for nearly seven minutes before Keller broke free for his second of the game to make it 18-5 with 8:10 left in the third.
The Aggies outscored the Pride 8-5 the rest of the way with sophomore George Evanick picking up his first career tally with 2:54 left in the game thanks to an assist from Tony Aguayo.
Rafferty led DelVal with five points including four assists and a goal. He recorded his 100th career assist was his first of the game as he fed Brasch at the 5:02 mark. Keller had three goals and an assist for four points and Brasch finished with four goals. Ziegler potted three goals and Ben Napieralski added a goal and an assist for two points.
The Aggies won just 14-of-39 faceoffs with Sean Mylod winning nine and Chris Dearden getting seven. Mylod led the team with nine ground balls and two caused turnovers while Luke Kelchner had five caused turnovers and five ground balls with a faceoff victory.
Widener got points from 16 different players led by eight from Connor Ball on five goals and three assists. Connor Heisman and Nick DiCicco each had six points and combined for seven goals and five assists.
The Pride had 30 shots on goal to the Aggies 26, but committed five more turnovers than DelVal. Widener was 16-for-20 on clear attempts while DelVal converted 19-of-26. Each team netted two man-up goals.
