ASTON, Pa. - The Hood College men's lacrosse team earned their first victory of the 2024 Season with a 18-13 win over the Neumann University Knights.
Inside the Box Score
- Connor Flok (Emmaus, Pa./Emmaus) and Rio Muldoon (Prince Frederick, Md./DeMatha Catholic) led the Blazers combining for 14 points. Flok recorded five goals and one assist while Muldoon scored four goals and tallied four assists. Muldoon also caused two turnovers.
- Robbie Wiley (York, Pa./Central York) added four goals and one assist.
- Nino Rizzolino (Easton, Pa./Easton Area) had three caused turnovers on defense.
- Garrett Hitchens (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) went 9-16 in the faceoff circle and picked up five ground balls.
- Emmanual Granados went 9-15 for faceoffs and had four ground balls.
- Calvin Morris (Lancaster, Pa./Lancaster Catholic) made 11 saves after playing 59:25 minutes.
How It Happened
- In the first quarter, Neumann went on a quick three goal run. The Blazers would respond with a goal by Wiley at 2:41. Just 29 seconds later James Fay (Howell, N.J./Howell) scored for the Blazers. Closing out the quarter the Knights scored again off a shot by Luke Sykes with 1:49 left in the quarter. Going into the second quarter Neumann led the Blazers 2-4.
- The second quarter was more promising for the Blazers. At 12:29 Flok scored a goal bringing Hood within two points of the Knights. This would be the beginning of a seven point run for the Blazers. Off a Man-Up opportunity Wiley capitalized scoring another goal at 10:03. Two minutes later Muldoon tied up the scoring at 5 points. Then at 6:03 Regan Tesche (Avondale, Pa./Salesianum School),tallied up his first career goal off an assist from Muldoon. Muldoon then picked up another assist this time passing to an open Flok making the score 7-5. Owen McDermott (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser) added on to the Blazer scoring one off a shot of his own. Next a minute later Muldoon scored off an assist from Flok bringing Hood up four points going into the second half with a score of 9-5.
- Starting out the third quarter the Knights could finally manage to stop the Blazers run with a score by Gannon McKee during a Man-Up opportunity. However Flok responded swiftly scoring an unassisted goal at 9:27. Closing out the quarter both teams would score twice with shots by Wiley and Flok for Hood followed up by scores by Sykes and Renzo Garone. Heading into the third quarter Hood led the Knights 12-8.
- In the final quarter of play both teams would trade goals yet Hood had the edge in scoring going 6-5. With efforts to bring the Knights back out of a four point defict Garone scored a goal for Neumann with 8:15 minutes left in the match. Wiley would then score on a possession where the offense was one man down. The Blazers then went on another scoring run picking up three more goals curtesy of Flok, Muldoon, and David Lubrano (Middletown, Del./Appoquinimink). Before the end of regulation the Knights score twice however, their goals would not be enough to come back as the Blazers were left victorious with a final score of 18-13.
For the Opponent
- Luke Sykes led the team with three goals and also caused three turnovers.
- Colin McGuire, Emmett Wexler and Justice Brovero all scored once for Neumann.
- Seven players caused one turnover for the defense.
- Jake Methlie went 8-16 in the faceoff circle and picked up five ground balls.
- Owen Avelar recorded nine saves after playing 60 minutes in goal.
Analysis
- Hood outshot Neumann 48-33.
- The Blazers successfully cleared the ball 12-out-of-20 times compared to the Knights 9-18.
- Hood won the ground ball battle 39-33.
- The Blazers went 1-for-3 on their man-up chances compared to the Knights 4-10.
Up Next
The Blazers move to 1-0 overall and will travel to Winchester, Va. on Wednesday, February 21 at 7 p.m. to faceoff against the Hornets of Shenandoah University.
