CUA opens conference play with 11-6 win over Drew

WASHINGTON – CUA outscored Drew 8-4 in the second half en route to an 11-6 victory in the 2011 Landmark Conference opener on Saturday afternoon inside Cardinal Stadium.  Jimmy Sinnott scored five goals for CUA (8-3), and four Cardinals had at least two goals.

CUA’s Tyler Catalani scored less than two minutes in to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 lead.  From there neither team was able to generate much on offense until Steve Gentile found the back of the net with 4:09 remaining in the opening quarter, which tied the game at one.

Sinnott scored his first goal of the afternoon with 3:16 to play in the first and CUA was on top 2-1.

Sinnott’s second goal came 1:30 into the second quarter to put CUA in front 3-1, but Sean McGowan pulled the Rangers within one with his score at the 9:36 mark.  That proved to be the final score of the opening 30 minutes.

McGowan scored the first goal of the third quarter with 10:23 on the clock and that tied things up at three.  Tyler Morse then gave the visitors their first lead of the afternoon with his score at the 8:53 mark.

From that point on CUA took control of the third quarter, outscoring Drew 4-0 in the final 8:43. Sinnott scored twice during that time and Chris Fuccillo and Brendan Englert also tallied goals.  That made the score 7-4 in favor of CUA with 15 minutes of lacrosse remaining.

Sinnott opened the fourth with his fifth and final score of the day to put CUA in front by four, but Andrew Somps answered with a goal of his own to make it 8-5.

Fuccillo and Catalani then went back-to-back for the Cardinals in a span of 1:13 to give the home team a comfortable 10-5 advantage with under seven to play.

Nicholas Della Fera found the back of the net with 5:03 on the clock to make it a four-goal game, but Englert put the finishing touches on this one with a score at the 1:50 mark to seal CUA’s eighth win.

CUA was credited with ten more shots than the Rangers (35-25), while both teams scooped up 30 ground balls.  Tom Scotto won 10 of 20 in the X for the Cardinals and he picked up a team-leading seven GBs.  Rob Ryan had a solid day with five ground balls and three caused turnovers, while Ryan Doyle picked up two GBs and caused a pair of turnovers.

Sean McKenna stopped 11 shots in goal and Englert handed out a team-high two assists.

Sean McGowan won nine face-offs for the Rangers and picked up eight ground balls, while three different Drew players caused two turnovers.  Rangers goal keeper Charlie DeSocio sent back 13 shots during the game.

CUA is off until next Saturday, April 9 when the Cardinals travel to Pennsylvania to take on Susquehanna.  The opening face-off is set for 1 p.m.