Cardinals Post 11-7 Win Over Moravian in Landmark Semifinals
Courtesy of Catholic Athletic Communications
WASHINGTON, D.C. - The Catholic University men's lacrosse team totaled a season-high 65 shots en route to an 11-7 victory over Moravian in the semifinals of the Landmark Conference Men's Lacrosse Championship Wednesday at Carlini Field.
The Cardinals (7-0), having won 11 of their last 12, will play in the conference championship game for the fourth time in the last six years.
Catholic posted it's highest shot total since March 8, 2016 when it had 73 in a 21-10 win over Beloit at Cardinal Stadium.
After the Greyhounds (5-7) took an early 1-0 lead just 1:51 into the contest, the Cardinals responded by scoring three-straight unassisted tallies from junior Jack McGorry, senior Kevin Crowley and junior Collin Stein to take the lead for good.
Eight different players had at least one goal for Catholic who led by as many as six with 3:56 remaining in the fourth quarter following the second goal of the game from junior Sean Baudo.
A total of 10 players had at least one point, including sophomore Luke D'Ambrogi who had four assists and junior Chris Novella who picked up his first point of the season with an assist to senior Vince Catenacci with 4:30 left in the fourth.
Novella is the 27th different Cardinal to register a point this season, exactly half of the team's 54-man roster.
Defensively, Catholic was led by freshman Austin Stanley who just named Landmark Conference Rookie of the Year on Tuesday. He finished the game with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
The Cardinals totaled 15 caused turnovers, two shy of their season high set in a 28-10 win over Moravian at Carlini Field on April 10. On Wednesday, a total of 10 players had at least one, including Stanley, McGorry, sophomore Nic Pezone, and senior Ben Karthaus who each had two.
Karthaus also netted his first goal of the season while Pezone made seven saves to post his seventh win in seven starts this season.
Meanwhile, Moravian goalie Sean DeMott finished with 31 saves to set a new Landmark Conference tournament record. The previous mark was 23 set by Merchant Marine's Kevin Young at Goucher on May 1, 2013.
Catholic will face a familiar foe in Saturday's championship game in Elizabethtown. The two teams, who have combined to win the last five Landmark Conference championships, have met in the title game twice before with each team winning once. The Cardinals defeated the Blue Jays in overtime, 13-12, in 2016 while Elizabethtown posted a 12-7 victory in 2017.