(Carlisle, Pa.) - The Dickinson College men's lacrosse team suffered a tough loss in its Centennial Conference opener, falling to Swarthmore, 10-5 on Saturday.

The Devils stormed out of the gates, scoring just 16 seconds in as Shea Licata (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset) won the opening face-off and found Ted Sirvaitis (Greenwich, Conn./Greenwich) to put the Devils on the board.

Swarthmore closed out the quarter with a pair of goals at 4:45 and 1:59 to take a 2-1 lead. The Garnet tacked on four goals in the second quarter while Chris Dodson (Bethesda, Md./Landon) scored twice for the Devils to make the score 6-3 at halftime.

A defensive struggle in the third led to just a pair of goals for Swarthmore, stretching their lead to 8-3 at the end of the third.

Sirvaitis traded a pair of goals with Swarthmore's Tyler Bradshaw in the fourth quarter for the final of 10-5.

Bradshaw finished with a game-high four goals while Kevin Friedenberg made 18 saves and controlled five ground balls.

Dewey Dubord (Freeport, Maine/Governor Dummer) caused three turnovers in the midfield and dished out an assist on a fast-break in the second period.

Licata won 9-of-15 face-offs while Pat Curley (Ellicott City, Md./Mt. St. Joseph) went 3-for-3 on the day. Senior Russell Matthews (Chestertown, Md./Kent County) made five saves in goal for the Devils as the defense held the Garnet to just 15 shots on goal.

The Red Devils slip to 4-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference. They travel to 18th-ranked Gettysburg College on Wednesday for a 3:30 start.

2009-03-21