Sinnott and Fuccillo lead Cardinals to 13-9 win in season opener

ARLINGTON, Va. – The CUA men’s lacrosse team opened its 2011 season with a 13-9 win over Marymount on Saturday evening at Washington-Lee High School.  The Cardinals received five goals from Jimmy Sinnott and six points from Chris Fuccillo in winning their season opener for a fourth consecutive year.

Sinnott wasted little time in getting CUA on the board with his first goal coming just 19 seconds into this one.  Marymount’s Connor Kellog tied things at one with his score a minute later, but Fuccillo gave the lead back to the Cardinals with his score at the 12:29 mark of the opening quarter.

Jeff Cook’s goal at the 11:36 mark tied the game at two, but CUA’s Bobby Kusbit put the Cardinals back in front with his unassisted score three minutes later.  The Saints again had an answer though with Jeff Cook tying things up at three with his goal at the 7:43 mark.

Fuccillo and Kusbit closed the quarter with back-to-back goals for CUA though, and the Cardinals took a 5-3 lead into the second.

After Cook pulled Marymount to within one Sinnott answered with two straight scores for CUA in a matter of 13 seconds to give the Cardinals a 7-4 advantage with 12:26 remaining before halftime.

Cook then netted his fourth score of the night to make it a 7-5 game, but Tyler Catalani had an answer for CUA with his goal at the 6:38 mark to put the Cardinals back in front by three.

The Saints' Fran Turella and CUA’s Sean Cummins then exchanged goals in a matter of 17 seconds with those goals proving to be the final scoring of the opening half with the Cardinals taking a 9-6 lead into intermission.

The third quarter featured the fewest goals of the game, with just three, but CUA scored two of them, one from Sinnott and another by Will Ardolino, to give the Cardinals an 11-7 lead entering the final 15 minutes of play.

Tom Anderson opened the fourth with a Marymount goal to make it an 11-8 game with 13:33 on the clock.  Sinnott then finished his scoring with goal number five with 6:30 remaining to give the Cardinals a four-score advantage.  After a Kellogg goal made it 12-9, Fuccillo all but sealed this one for CUA with his score at the 3:48 mark to set the final margin at four.

CUA unleashed 41 shots in the game, including a team-high 12 from Fuccillo.  Tom Scotto won 18 of 24 face-offs and also scooped up 12 ground balls, while Sean McKenna earned the win in goal with 15 saves, including six in the second quarter.

The Cardinals picked up 38 GBs to 22 by Marymount and CUA was 12 of 15 in clear attempts, while the Saints were 17 of 22.

CUA will return to action on Saturday, February 26 when the Cardinals open their 2011 home slate with a matchup vs. Frostburg State inside Cardinal Stadium.  The opening face-off is set for 1 p.m.