Feb. 23, 2008

Freshmen Lead No. 7 Terps Past No. 4 Georgetown, 11-6

Youth was served in the University of Maryland's men's lacrosse season opener as four Terrapin freshmen combined for nine goals in No. 7 Maryland's 11-6 victory over fourth-ranked Georgetown at the Hoyas' Multi-Sport Field Saturday afternoon.

Grant Catalino, who scored a game-high four goals, got the ball rolling for the Terps with an unassisted goal at the 9:35 mark. The freshman from Webster, N.Y., picked up a groundball off of a shot by fellow Terp freshman Travis Reed that hit the right post. Catalino scooped up the ball and quickly put the ball past Hoya goalie Miles Kass for a 1-0 Terrapin lead.

Georgetown and Maryland traded rapid-fire goals over the next two minutes of play. Andrew Brancaccio scored to tie the game at 8:50. Senior co-captain Will Dalton used the NCAA's new face-off rule to give the Terps a 2-1 lead on the ensuing face-off. Georgetown's Brian Taubb was whistled for moving early on the draw giving Maryland a fast-break opportunity. Dalton took full advantage by racing down the middle of the field and burying a shot from 10 yards out. Brendan Cannon scored his only goal of the game off of a rebound off the post to knot the score at 2-2.

But that's as close as the Hoyas would get to taking a lead in the game as Maryland ripped off the next five goals.

Virginia Holds Off Stony Brook in 15-13 Win

Virginia scored the final two goals of the game to gain a hard fought 15-13 win over Stony Brook Saturday afternoon at Klöckner Stadium. The win is the second in a row for the third-ranked Cavaliers, while the Seawolves dropped their season opener.

Danny Glading paced the Cavalier offense with a career-high five goals and three assists for eight total points, also a career best. Garrett Billings had his second three-goal game in a row.

Ryan Hughes tied his career high with four goals for Stony Brook, while freshman Jordan McBride also tallied four times.

Glading scored three times in the first quarter as the Cavaliers found the back of the net on six of nine shots in the period.

Their torrid shooting continued in the second quarter as Billings scored his first goal of the contest at the 13:36 mark. Following Billings' goal, Alex Kajencki replaced Rob Camposa in goal. The Seawolves also switched out of a zone defense and went man-to-man the rest of the way.

No. 2 Duke Eases Past Vermont, 19-7

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Duke's starting attack unit of Matt Danowski, Zack Greer and Max Quinzani combined for 10 goals and nine assists to lead the second-ranked Blue Devils to a 19-7 victory over visiting Vermont as 1,681 fans looked on at Koskinen Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Danowski finished with a game-high nine total points on four goals and five assists while Greer added three goals and a career-high four assists. Quinzani matched his career-best goal-scoring effort with three tallies.

On the NCAA's career charts, Danowski moves into 13th place for total points with 272, passing John Zulberti of Syracuse (267), and into a tie for 20th place for assists with Steve Marohl of UMBC (137). With his three goals against Vermont, Greer increases his career total to 148, a mark that ranks 21st on the NCAA's all-time chart. Also on Saturday, Greer became the seventh player in Duke history to amass 200 career points, and now has 203 on 148 goals and 55 assists in 50 games.

Duke assumed control of the game early, darting out to a 3-0 lead in the first five minutes of action. Just 23 seconds into the game, Danowski found Greer from the midfield line for the first goal of the day. After Danowski fed Brad Ross for a tally at the 12:20 mark, the three-time All-America pick from Farmingdale, N.Y., scored an extra man goal from Greer with 10:09 on the clock.

Carolina Defense Excels Again In 6-5 Victory At Denver

The No. 10 North Carolina men's lacrosse team improved to 2-0 on the season with a hard-fought 6-5 victory against the No. 20 University of Denver Pioneers before a capacity crowd of 1,800 at Barton Stadium Saturday afternoon. For the second straight week it was the Tar Heel defense that keyed the victory, holding the Pioneers scoreless for a period of 22:35 from the second through fourth quarters while allowing the offense to score four straight goals and rally the Tar Heels to victory. A week ago, UNC held Bellarmine scoreless for over 48 minutes to finish out a 15-2 triumph over the Knights.

The win avenged an 11-8 loss the Tar Heels suffered on their last trip to the Mile High City in 2006. It also gives Carolina an unbeaten mark as the Heels prepare to host 2007 NCAA semifinalist Cornell next Sunday at 1 p.m. at Fetzer Field.

The 6-5 final decision gave the Tar Heels their first win in a game decided by one goal in almost four years and it broke a streak of five losses UNC had suffered in games decided by a single goal. The last UNC win by one goal was March 20, 2004 when Carolina beat Duke 10-9 at Koskinen Stadium in Durham, N.C.