Queens Men's Lacrosse Opens With a Bang, St. Andrews Presbyterian College Defeats Pfeiffer, Lees-McRae Starts With Win
February 21, 2004

Courtesy Queens University, St. Andrews College Sports Information Offices

Queens Men's Lacrosse Opens With a Bang As Royals Top Manhattanville 9-8

St. Andrews Lacrosse Powers Past Pfeiffer, 12-4

Lees-McRae Takes 14-6 Victory in Home Opener

Queens Men's Lacrosse Opens With a Bang As Royals Top Manhattanville 9-8

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (February 21, 2004) -- The Queens University of Charlotte men's lacrosse team played its first lacrosse game in the program's history and came away with a 9-8 win over visiting Manhattanville College (N.Y.) Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Josh Bryce scored the first goal off a feed from Andy Delamielleure. The early goal proved to be the only lead the Royals would enjoy until late in the game.

Manhattanville (0-2) answered with four straight goals to take a commanding lead. David Overberg's goal pulled the Royals to within two at 4-2. The Valiants then scored with 20 seconds in the first half to make to take a three-goal advantage into the break.

The Royals made some key adjustments at the half and came within a goal at 5-4 off goals from Overberg and Delamielleure. Manhattanville came right back to make it 6-4 on a goal by Jim Seymour, who finished with a game-high five goals.

The Valiants then added two more before the third quarter came to an end to make it 8-4. Those goals proved to be the last for Manhattanville as the Queens defense and goalie Joel Heimbigner tightened up.

The Royals methodically administered its comeback in the fourth quarter. Overberg started the run off a feed from Ben Clausen. Alex Tack then added another after a Manhattanville penalty to make it 8-7. The Royals then capitalized on another Valiant penalty as Delamielleure found Bryce again to tie the game.

The Royals continued to play tough as Heimbigner made some key saves. The Royals took the lead for good at the 4:20 mark as Tack found Ben Storms for what proved to be the game winner.

"I was really proud of the guys and how they executed our halftime adjustments," said Queens head coach James Fritz. "What I was most proud of was the team's effort and how we fought back. We never quit and just kept plugging away. I could not have asked for a better effort from our guys."

Bryce and Overberg had three goals for Queens. Delamielleure led the team in assists with two. The Royals won 15-of-21 faceoffs and held a 46-33 groundball advantage. Heimbigner picked up the win in goal as he tallied 15 saves.

The 1-0 Royals visit Deep South Lacrosse Conference rival Catawba College Wednesday at 3:30p.m. The Valiants host Southampton March 6.

Knights Lacrosse Powers Past Pfeiffer, 12-4

LAURINBURG, NC—Zach Mryncza’s (Baltimore, MD) team-high six points helped the St. Andrews Presbyterian College men’s lacrosse team cruise to a 12-4 Deep South Conference victory over Pfeiffer University Saturday afternoon on ‘The Moat”.

Mryncza’s two goals and four assists helped the Knights retain the Laurinheimer Jug and improve to 2-1 overall and 2-0 in the DSC. The Falcons begin their season 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the DSC.

Two late first period goals gave SAPC a 3-0 lead after the first 15 minutes. The Knights maintained the momentum scoring the first nine goals including two shorthanded.

Sophomore goalie Kevin Woods (Setauket, NY) kept a shut out going until deep into the third period when Ryan Chandler (Woodbridge, VA) finally put Pfeiffer on the board. Woods (1-1) picked up the win allowing three goals while making 13 saves in 54 minutes. Brian Plamer (Wooster, Ohio) picked up the loss in his first game of the season.

Pat Fitzgerald (Baltimore, MD) had a game-high four goals on seven shots and Kyle Weiher (St. Albert, Alberta, Canada) scored three goals, one assist, snatched eight ground balls and went 5-for-7 on face offs. Kohl Smith (Wilmington, NC) was perfect on face off, 6-for-6, while Kris Hartzell grabbed a game high 10 ground balls.

Head coach John Brubaker was pleased with the teams performance stating, “its great to get the momentum rolling with another Deep South victory by playing a full hard game after Wednesday’s performance (a 16-6 loss to NYIT). The third midfield line stepped up for us, led by Ray Gayhardt.”

“We have a young team with a lot of valuable players,” concluded Brubaker, which should make the rest of the season exciting.

The Knights will host Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) out of Belmont, California on March 1st at 3:00 p.m. The Falcons entertain St. Vincent University on Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 p.m.

Lees-McRae Takes 14-6 Victory in Home Opener

Banner Elk, NC – Lees-McRae opened up at home this weekend with a 14-6 victory over BriarCliffe College. The field was wet and the wind was fierce, but that did not stop the Bobcats from pulling out their first victory of the year.

Lees-McRae jumped out to an impressive 8-2 lead at the end of the first quarter. Keeping the pressure on the score was 11-2 at the break. Leading the Bobcats was So. Dan Barry (Miami, FL) with 2 goals and 8 assists on the day. Dan broke the Lees-McRae record for most points in a game which was 8 set by Ken Howell back in 2001. Nik Nixon (The Woodlands, TX) also had an impressive day with 5 goals and 1 assist. Other goals scorers on the day were Josh Spriggs, Brian Voight(2), Tyler Stieber, B.J. Lamb, Chris Stieber, and Madison Thompson. Michael Swearingen (Alexandria, VA) won 16 of his 22 faceoffs for a very impressive 72.7 percentage. Defense was strong as always led by Chris Fielder and Kyle Harter in Net. They only allowed 15 shots and combined they made 11 saves.

This breaks a home winless streak that has been around for the past 3 seasons for the Bobcats.

Coach Perkinson stated, “that we could have played a little bit better, but we got the win we were looking for. We will still have to learn from the mistakes we made in this game and put that towards our preparation for the next game.”

Also, all players for the Bobcats appeared in this game.

The Bobcats will play at home on March 3, 2004 vs. #10 Wheeling Jesuit University. Lees-McRae College pulls to 1-1 on the year while BriarCliffe falls to 0-2.