Box Score
By Matt McDermott, GoMessiah.com student manager
York, PA – Spring Break is a time where students take a week off from the challenges that come with academic vigor. But senior goalie Zach Cureton and the Falcons had one more test before their big break.
The undefeated and offensively prone York College Spartans.
After the first win of the season on Wednesday, the Falcons were clicking on all cylinders against Sparty, opening the game with five unanswered goals in 16 minutes. With Cureton's season-high 22 saves in the cage, the Falcons were well on their way to a quality road win to start of their spring break, 15-12.
Messiah (2-2) used man-up attacks to its advantage in the first quarter, as sophomore Heath Kupecky and freshman Brian Meenan scored on two man-up positions after two costly York (4-1) penalties, each scoring their fourth goals of the year, respectively.
Seniors J.J. Miller and Eric Petters added to the scoring as well, scoring at the 12:25 and 2:20 marks respectively to start the first period with a 4-0 lead on the scoreboard.
But head coach Geof Weisenborn said that despite the early action for his squad, Cureton and the defense made quality stops early to help the offense find their rhythm.
“They caught us off guard early on in the game a little bit,” Weisenborn said. “But Zach made some good saves to keep them off the board and give us possession.”
The second period was a balance between the two teams, offensively, as each scored three goals apiece, but York outperformed the Falcons in the second on shots (13-9), shots on goal (9-6) clears (5-1), and turnovers (1-5). But it was Miller in the face-off X that allowed Spartan momentum to be stopped, as the senior went nine for 12 in face-offs in the first half.
“Anytime you can control the face-off X it makes it that much harder to score three and four goals in a row,” Weisenborn said. “That momentum takes time away from their offense and adds to our offense.”
At halftime, the Falcons controlled a comfortable seven-to-three lead over York.
“I always tell the guys that at halftime, we need to focus on the game being 0-0 now,” Weisenborn said. “We don't focus on holding on to a lead. We want to keep pushing forward. I reminded them that lacrosse is a game of runs. They are going to get a few goals and so will we, but we want to be a team with the last run. I asked the guys to be mentally tough and if they get a few goals, we will have to respond.”
But York, a high-quality offensive team, would not be denied a surge of their own.
While sophomore attack and the Falcons' leading goal scorer Kevan Schellenburg added his second score of the day with 12:34 left to play in the third, the first 10 minutes of the third quarter saw York's Josh Gamble, James Lowe, and B.J. Blaker score five goals to tie the game with 5:18 left to play in the period.
“I called a timeout when we were still up one to reiterate our game plan and get ourselves focused,” Weisenborn said. It was a time for us to settle down. And even though they got the next one, we were composed. The guys knew what they had to do to finish the game off.”
And in the cage, Cureton felt composed and passed confidence to his defenders.
“I wasn't nervous when it was 8-8,” Cureton said. “It was strange. I was more nervous when it was 4-0, 5-0. I was waiting for them to do something offensively. And even when they were scoring, we had to stay composed. I told the “D” to do their jobs and keep it simple and I'll do my best in the cage to make the saves.”
That defensive refocus gave a boost to the offense to seal the victory.
Meenan started action with his second of the day at the 4:40 mark. Then it was back-to-back goals for classmates Schellenburg and Jess Rogers, scoring their third and second respective goals of the day just 13 seconds apart.
“This is really the first year where we have 12 guys in the attack and any one of those guys can be the leading scorer in any game,” senior Eric Petters said. “We have six guys on the field at all times who are dangerous. That makes it hard for the defense. We make good off-ball runs and it disrupts the defense, especially when we pass the ball well.”
Entering the final 15 minutes of play, the Falcons had a firm 11 to eight lead.
But that was not enough.
Kupeckey added his third and fourth goals of the afternoon six minutes into the final period, while senior Pete Owens and junior Andrew Nichols put the icing on the cake with seven minutes left to play. A final push from the Spartans added three goals, but it was a no go on this day: the Falcons pulled away with a 15-12 victory.
“We felt that going into the game, we had to keep pace on the offensive end,” Weisenborn said. “We felt we could exploit their defense. They are big on one-on-one defense, so we can move them around the crease to get good opportunities. Today our offense was crisp. We moved off-ball well and we finished early which helps everyone.”
Petters felt the same way.
“We have to go all the time in this explosive offense we have,” Petters said. “This showed our potential. We got 48 shots in back-to-back games. We want a lot of shots and a lot of good shots. We are still improving, though. Defensive has always been a strength on our team and we relied on our defense to win games. But this year, we are challenging teams to keep up with us on offense and we have Zach and [freshman] Drew Cortese shutting down [the other teams'] best players.”
And progress is still Weisenborn's mantra.
“We were excited to get the win and excited to step forward,” Weisenborn added. “They guys noticed that we aren't playing our best lacrosse and we can improve on both sides. We are continuing to get better throughout the season. We have Widener, who was voted the top team in our conference, a week from Wednesday. Our schedule doesn't get easier and we need to focus on ourselves. This season is a marathon and not a sprint. We have to focus on taking steps forward.”
But as for now, spring break is more about personal and Christian development for Weisenborn and the boys.
“Every year, we use our spring break to do service trips either in Harrisburg or Montgomery, West Virginia. This year we are going to Montgomery with an organization called Mid-Atlantic Christian Endeavor. We will help rebuild houses, roofs, and churches. As Christians, we are called to give back. Since we are blessed, we are called to bless others. That is what we will be doing.”
The Falcons return to action on Wednesday, Mar. 23 when they open conference play at Widener University. Game time is set for 4 pm.
