GREENSBORO, N.C.– Facing a nationally ranked opponent on home turf, the Guilford College men's lacrosse team endured a tough 22-8 defeat at the hands of No. 13 University of Lynchburg on Wednesday afternoon at Appenzeller Field
Looking at the stat book, the Hornets out shot the Quakers 53-21, including a 42-14 edge in shots on goal. The away team dominated in the faceoff circle, winning 27 of 34 draws, while securing 49 ground balls to Guilford's 23.
Darius Safavi-Abbassi (Culver City, Calif.) got the start in net, facing a relentless day at the office, making seven saves against 19 shots on goal, allowing 12 goals. His save percentage drops to a .470. Safavi-Abbassi's overall record drops to 2-8 on the season.
Gavin Dellinger (Hilton Head Island, S.C.) entered in relief at halftime, rejecting 13 shots against 23 shots on goal, allowing ten goals, moving his save percentage to .400. For the bad guys, Andrew Miller was selected to protect the goal, making five saves against nine shots on goal, allowing four goals in the first half. His record improves to 5-4. Eric Allen came in at the half, closing out the game with one save against five shots, allowing five goals.
Several Quakers made notable contributions.
Gavin Brown (Charleston, S.C.) led in the scoring column, recording four goals off four shots on frame, securing his 16th of the season, second-most on team.
Kenneth Crowley (Charlotte, N.C) contributed with a pair of his own off two shots on target, moving his season total to seven on the season.
Davis Palombo (Greensboro, N.C) notched a goal and an assist, off two shots, each on target. Leading the team with 17 goals on the season.
Aimery Workman (High Point, N.C.) rounded out the Quakers scoring efforts with a tally of his own off two shots, both on target.
Wyatt Dwyer (Seattle, Wash.),
Cam Walters (Greensboro, N.C.), and
Drew Sizemore (Greensboro, N.C.) each contributed a hat-trick of ground balls.
Grant Voigt led the Hornets with a hat-trick. Liam Holman, Jack Murdock, Will Rubley, Spencer Vandenberg, Charlie Evans and Carter Besz each added two apiece. Seven other Hornets contributed to their scoring efforts.
It was a quiet five minutes of action to start off the game, until Guilford set the tone in the first quarter with a strike from Palombo at the 10:44 mark with a helper from
Jacob Mills (Culpeper, Va). The Hornets responded with a pair of their own three minutes apart, from Hastings and Besz to make the score 2-1 with three minutes left to go in the first. Brown responded with his own, assisted by Fitch at the 1:44 mark, tying up the game heading into the second quarter.
The second quarter saw Lynchburg go on a goal spree, unleashing nine goals in-a-row, putting the Hornets up by a tally of 11-2 with five minutes left to go in the second quarter. Guilford finally responded at the 1:53 mark when Brown found the back of the net, assisted by Palombo, followed by another tally from Brown 40 seconds later, securing a hat-trick, to close out the half, 12-4.
Coming out of the break, the Quakers were kept scoreless as the Lynchburg back line seemed to be unstoppable. The Hornets continued to crank up the action, slotting seven more into the net, finishing the quarter at 19-4.
In the final period, GC showed resilience and strength as they continued to fight, winning the quarter by a score of 4-3. Crowley notched a solo goal, followed by Brown's fourth goal, assisted by Palombo, and Crowley notching his seventh of the season at the 8:30 mark. The Hornets responded with a trio of their own, before Workman scored the final goal of the game, wrapping the score at 22-8.
The men's lacrosse team will look to break their losing-streak when they travel to Virginia Wesleyan University for another ODAC contest on Saturday, April 5th. First faceoff is set for 1:30 P.M.
#GoQuakes
