Fredericksburg, Va. – The St. Mary's College of Maryland men's lacrosse team rebounded from Saturday's loss with a hard-fought 7-6 road victory over the University of Mary Washington Wednesday afternoon.

Junior captain Ryan Alexander (Laurel, Md./Pallotti) led the Seahawk offense with a hat trick, while sophomore attackman Chris Becraft (Rockville, Md./Good Counsel) notched two assists.

The Seahawks (3-4, 1-1 CAC) broke a 1-1 tie with a four-goal second period as the visitors rattled off three straight before junior defenseman Dave Watts (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Lutheran) completed a pass from senior defenseman Travis Floyd (Alexandria, Va./Mount Vernon) at 1:20 to cut St. Mary's lead to 4-2. Sophomore attackman Sam Burns (Potomac, Md./T.S. Wootton) returned the Seahawks' three-goal lead as Burns took a feed from Becraft with one second left in the first half for a 5-2 halftime lead.

Mary Washington (6-4, 0-3 CAC) outscored the Seahawks 3-2 in the third quarter to come within 7-5 heading into the final stanza. Alexander sandwiched a pair of goals around one by junior middie Brian Deal (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shady Side Academy) to give SMCM a 7-3 advantage at 5:46. Deal and sophomore middie Evan Weiss (Oakton, Va./Madison) each tallied unassisted goals to cut the deficit to two.

The Eagles pulled within one at 5:37 in the fourth period as Deal completed the hat trick with junior Dan Coats (Charlottesville, Va./Albemarle) assisting on the play. St. Mary's won the ensuing face-off and the Seahawk defense killed Mary Washington's extra-man opportunity. The Eagles fired off two shots but failed to capitalize as one was blocked while the other one was saved by sophomore Pat Simpson (Arnold, Md./Broadneck).

Mary Washington took 30 shots to the Seahawks' 26, while the Eagles edged St. Mary's 29-27 in ground balls behind a game-high seven loose ball pick-ups by senior defenseman Peter Lytle (Charlottesville, Va./Albemarle).

Deal finished as the Eagles' leading scorer with three goals, while three other players tallied one goal.

DiPasquale claimed 11-of-16 face-offs as the Seahawks dominated that category.

Simpson registered 16 saves and scooped up four ground balls in the win, while sophomore Ryan Kleman (Fairfax, Va./Robinson) had eight saves for Mary Washington.

St. Mary's returns to action this Saturday, March 28 with another conference tilt as the Seahawks host York (Pa.) College at 1:00.

2009-03-25