GRANTHAM, Pa. – The Messiah College men's lacrosse team had won four straight to climb atop the standings in the Middle Atlantic Conference, but unfortunately for the Falcons, all things that go up must come down as the second-ranked Gettysburg College men's lacrosse team knocked the hosts from their pedestal with a 20-3 non-conference victory on Wednesday.

Gettysburg (12-1) picked up its most lop-sided victory of the season with a dominating effort on both sides of the field. The Bullets fired off 45 shots at the Messiah (7-5) goal, while holding the hosts to just 16. Five players notched at least two goals in the game, led by senior Trip Dyer's (Ocean View, Del./Worcester Prep (Md.)) four-goal effort. Sophomore Joe Brody (Bethesda, Md./Walter Johnson) added three goals, while senior Ben Sufrin (Mahopac, N.Y./Mahopac) and juniors Drew Duckworth (Rye, N.Y./Hotchkiss School (Conn.)) and Rob Triplett (McLean, Va./McLean) each added a pair of scores.

The visitors led from start-to-finish as Duckworth registered the first goal at 13:11. Junior Zach Pucci (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) picked up the assist on the play and added another helper on the ensuing goal by Dyer at 10:43. Gettysburg led 4-0 before Messiah capitalized on its first man-up opportunity at 5:24.

From the end of the first period to the start of the third, the Bullets ran off a nine-goal scoring streak with Dyer picking up his fourth and final goal at 14:15 in the third to make it 13-1. The Falcons added another power play goal in the third period, but Gettysburg scored seven of the final eight goals to close the romp.

Pucci ended the day with four assists, while senior Devin Hewitt (Groton, Mass./Holderness School) and freshman Danno Lynch (Medfield, Mass./Avon Old Farms (Conn.)) each picked up a pair of helpers. Dyer and Brody also added assists, giving them five- and four-point days, respectively.

Defensively, four players saw time in the goal for Gettysburg led by junior Zachary Furshman (Miami, Fla./Kent School (Conn.)), who improved to 7-1 this season by allowing three goals and making five saves. Junior Tim Stanton (Phoenix, Md./Loyola Blakefield) scooped up a team-high five ground balls and won half of his face-offs (8-16). Freshman Ben Engleman (Potomac, Md./Thomas S. Wooton) came up with four ground balls for the Bullets.

Gettysburg returns to Centennial Conference action this weekend by hosting Swarthmore College at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium on Saturday, April 19, at 5:00 p.m.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Gettysburg College..  5  7  5  3 - 20
Messiah College.....  1  0  2  0 -  3
 
Attendance: 154
 
Gettysburg College SCORING:
GOALS: Trip Dyer 4; Joe Brody 3; Rob Triplett 2; Ben Sufrin 2;
       Drew Duckworth 2; Patrick Koehl 1; Josh Reichert 1;
       Tim Stanton 1; Andrew Ryan 1; Chris Cahill 1; Kyle McGrath 1;
       Danny Collura 1.
ASSISTS: Zach Pucci 4; Devin Hewitt 2; Danno Lynch 2; Joe Brody 1;
         Trip Dyer 1; Rob Triplett 1.
 
Messiah College SCORING:
GOALS: Nick Ricucci 2; Jeff Ziegler 1.
ASSISTS: John Murdock 2; Tim Sandusky 1.
 
SHOTS BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Gettysburg College.. 13 14 10  8 - 45
Messiah College.....  4  1  7  4 - 16
 
GROUND BALLS BY PRD   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Gettysburg College..  9  7  7  7 - 30
Messiah College.....  5  6  9 10 - 30
 
TURNOVERS BY PRD      1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Gettysburg College..  0  0  0  0 -  0
Messiah College.....  0  0  0  0 -  0
 
FACE-OFFS BY PRD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Gettysburg College..  2-7   3-6   5-8   2-4  - 12-25
Messiah College.....  5-7   3-6   3-8   2-4  - 13-25
 
CLEARS BY PERIOD       1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Gettysburg College..  6-6   5-5   4-6   7-9  - 22-26
Messiah College.....  3-5   1-3   3-4   5-5  - 12-17
 
EXTRA-MAN OPPS         1     2     3     4     Total
----------------------------------------------------
Gettysburg College..  1-1   0-1   0-0   0-1  -  1-3
Messiah College.....  1-1   0-0   1-1   0-0  -  2-2
 
SAVES BY PERIOD       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
Gettysburg College..  1  1  3  3 -  8
Messiah College.....  7  4  2  2 - 15
 
PENALTIES - Gettysburg College 2/2:00; Messiah College 3/3:00.

2008-04-16