Lacrosse Handily Wins National Showdown

In a battle of nationally-ranked teams, third-ranked Brunswick upended second-ranked Hill on Thursday on Cosby Field, 14-8. The Bruins improve to 10-0 with the win, as Brunswick’s Xander Dickson netted a season-best seven goals, while face-off specialist Jordan Ginder dominated the X, winning a staggering 23 of 26 face-offs against the Canadian powerhouse.

 

Dickson opened the game with a pair of goals, as the Bruins took a 2-0 lead by the 7:13 mark of the first quarter. Following a face-off win by Ginder, the Bruins pushed the pace, netting their third goal just eight seconds later. All three attackmen got touches on the play, as Dickson fed Christian Ronda in front of the Hill cage for the finish at 7:05.

 

Hill (7-3) got on the board at 5:15, netting a lefty blast from 12 yards out that snuck in under the crossbar.

 

Ronda scored his second goal of the game with a lefty finish, sweeping into the cage from the goal line extended on an isolation play. Michael Gottlieb made it a 5-1 contest with 3:02 left after streaking past a Hill defender for the goal.

 

The Pride appeared to finally get on track, netting the next three goals, including the final tally of the first quarter with 10.7 seconds left.

 

Hill opened the second quarter with two markers to finish its three-goal scoring burst and trimmed the Brunswick lead to 5-4 with 7:35 left in the half.

 

With momentum swinging towards the Canadian squad, Brunswick goalie Patrick Burkinshaw (12 saves) made an eye-popping stop on a point blank, potential game-tying shot at 6:33 that energized the home crowd. Once the Bruins cleared the ball into their zone, the team called a timeout at 5:58. After the stoppage, Brunswick's Cooper Moore netted the momentum-squashing goal at 5:21 on a lefty dodge.

 

Moore’s goal sparked a three-goal run for the Bruins, as Dickson netted the next two tallies for the hosts as the teams headed into the break.

 

Hill mounted its second comeback of the night with two straight markers to open the third quarter, cutting the Brunswick advantage to 8-6 at 8:29.

 

Dickson responded, netting his fifth goal of the game. On the scoring play, Dickson spun away from a double-team on the right side of the cage and dropped in a tough-angle shot for a 9-6 lead. Moore capped the third quarter for Brunswick with a goal from beyond 25 yards out, as the Hill keeper was a couple yards removed from the goalmouth.

 

Dickson made it a five-goal cushion at 8:46 of the fourth quarter with his sixth score. Hill followed by bookending solo goals around an Edward Glassmeyer empty-net tally, setting the score at 12-8 with only 3:37 left in the game.

 

Brunswick netted the final two goals of the contest, including Dickson’s seventh, as Jack Ocken wrapped up the game with an empty-netter with 1:53 left to play.

 

The Bruins will head to Pennsylvania to take part in the Katie Samson Festival this weekend. The Bruins face William Penn Charter on Saturday, April 28, at Radnor High School at 1:00 p.m.

 

#2 Hill     2 2 2 2 – 8

#3 Bruins 5 3 2 4 – 14

 

Brunswick Scoring (G,A):

Xander Dickson (7,1), Christian Ronda (2,3), Cooper Moore (2,0), Edward Glassmeyer (1,1), Michael Gottlieb (1,0), Jack Ocken (1,0), Jack Montinaro (0,1)