BOX SCORE
Center Valley, PA (April 26, 2008) – The DeSales University men's lacrosse team gave the #1 seed in the MAC Playoffs quite a scare on Saturday afternoon scoring six straight goals in the third and fourth period to tie the game at eight before Messiah College rebounded to escape with an 11-8 victory over the Bulldogs in the regular season finale for DSU.
The Bulldogs finish its season with a 7-9 overall record and a 2-5 mark in the MAC Conference, while Messiah enters the post-season as the #1 seed in the conference playoffs with a 10-5 overall record and a 7-0 mark in the MAC.
Trailing 8-2 at the 10:33 mark of the third period, DSU turned the tides and begin to dominate the top team in the MAC this regular season. Senior Dan Thomer (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) started the rally with two straight goals both assisted by junior Matthew Brancaccio (Greenvale, NY/North Shore), the second of which gave Brancaccio 32 assists on the season, breaking the single-season record he fell one assist short of breaking last season.
The record breaking goal seemed to energize both the DSU team and the Bulldogs crowd as DeSales seemed to win every face-off, pick-up every ground ball and get every break over the next 10-12 minutes as the comeback continued. Senior Tom Carr (Atco, NJ/Paul VI) gave the DSU faithful something else to get excited about as he scored his first career goal just under two minutes after Thomer's second to pull the Bulldogs within 8-5 at the 5:20 mark of the third period.
Just 32 seconds later, Thomer picked up a loose ground ball on a Messiah turnover and beat the Falcon goalkeeper and all of a sudden a short Bulldog rally turned into some serious home-field momentum and Messiah was on its heels. The momentum continued and with 30 seconds left in the third period, sophomore Matthew Kruszewski (Atco, NJ/Winslow Township) pulled the Bulldogs within one, as Brancaccio earned another assist, his 33rd of the season and DSU trailed, 8-7 entering the fourth period.
The first four minutes went by without any scoring before DeSales broke thru as another senior, John Tosco (Hampton, NJ/Voorhees), pumped up the DSU faithful scoring just his third goal of the season on a feed from freshman Patrick McManimon (Holland, PA/Council Rock South) to tie the score at eight and all of a sudden the word “upset” was being tossed all around the field.
Messiah however showed why they were the best team in the conference this regular season, regrouping after the Bulldogs had tied the game and shutting out the DSU offense over the final 10 ½ minutes, scoring three goals and earning a hard-fought road win to enter the post-season with an undefeated conference record.
Thomer finished with four goals to lead the way, while Kruszewski, Carr, Tosco and senior James Ramsey (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) rounded out the scoring for DeSales. Brancaccio finished with four assists and 33 for the season, setting a new single-season record. Kruszewski and McManimon each had one assist the loss.
Sophomore Jarryd Stamatelos (Cherry Hill, NJ/Cherry Hill West) was spectacular in goal on the afternoon, making 16 saves to hold the Messiah offense at bay. Ramsey also played a terrific midfield picking up six ground balls, while senior Sam Gobeli (Baltimore, MD/Archbishop Curley) finished his career with seven face-off wins.
