NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Bailey Kirwin (Barrie, Ontario) had his hand in five scoring plays including a pair of assists in the first period for the Albertus Magnus College men's lacrosse team before a strong second propelled the visiting Norwich University Cadets past the Falcons, 15-9, in a Great Northeast Athletic Conference game at home on Celentano Field.
Kirwin recorded a career-high five assists, while Dane Walsh (Bethany, Conn.) nabbed a season-high 23 saves in the net for the Falcons.
THE BASICS
FINAL: Norwich 15 | Albertus Magnus 9
RECORDS: Albertus Magnus (2-5, 0-3 GNAC) | Norwich (5-4, 3-1 GNAC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
- Off a ground ball by Matt Bouchard (Berlin, Conn.), Jeremy Tremblay (Orford, Québec) netted the first goal for Albertus off the side pass from Shane Kelly (Madison, Conn.) to quickly put the hosts up, 1-0, three minutes into the opening quarter.
- Duncan Youngclaus nearly scored the equalizer two minutes later, but Sean Keenan (Franklin Square, N.Y.) was there to deny the attempt and keep Norwich off the board, followed by a goal from Cooper Strecker (Chester, Conn.) off the pass from DaKari Coleman (Norwalk, Conn.). Strecker curated the Falcons' second goal after a successful Albertus clear and a ground ball by the sophomore attacker.
- Norwich attempted five shots within a minute as Walsh saved the first and Rocco Albanese (Nutley, N.J.) blocked the last two, but the Cadets managed to connect with the back of the net on the sixth attempt to cut the deficit to within one at 6:15 in the first period.
- Kader Price (Walden, N.Y.) quickly retaliated with a goal for the Falcons a few seconds later off the assist from Kirwin to keep the lead, 3-1.
- Two minutes later, Mitchell McKay notched Norwich's second goal of the contest, but the Falcons capitalized off a Cadets' turnover as Strecker tallied his second score of the game off another Kirwin assist.
- With 15 seconds remaining in the opening quarter, Norwich narrowed the gap by one, followed by a trio of goals in the second, including a man-down goal five minutes into the period.
- After trailing by three, Tremblay snapped the mini-scoring run by the visitors with an unassisted goal off a successful faceoff by Coleman.
- Youngclaus padded Norwich's lead by one in the second two minutes prior to Tremblay's man-up goal off the stick of Kirwin.
- Norwich came out of the locker room after halftime and netted four unanswered goals to pad the Cadets' lead, 12-6.
- Across the remaining time in regulation, Albertus notched three more goals and the visitors extended their lead by a trio of tallies.
BETWEEN THE PIPES
Albertus
Dane Walsh (L, 1-4) 38 Shots | 23 Saves | 15 Goals Allowed
Norwich
Thomas Kelliher 13 Shots | 7 Saves | 6 Goals Allowed
Mason Dils (W, 1-0) 5 Shots | 2 Saves | 3 Goals Allowed
BY THE NUMBERS
SHOTS: Norwich 54 | Albertus 27
GROUND BALLS: Norwich 34 | Albertus 20
CLEARS: Norwich 6/7 | Albertus 5/6
MAN-UP: Norwich 0/0 | Albertus 1/3
TOP PERFORMERS
Albertus
Bailey Kirwin 5 Assists | 4 Shots | 3 SOG | 1 Ground Ball
Cooper Strecker 3 Goals | 6 Shots | 4 SOG | 3 Ground Balls | 2 Caused Turnovers
Jeremy Tremblay 3 Goals | 5 Shots | 4 SOG | 1 Ground Ball
Norwich
Alex Johnston 5 Goals | 9 Shots | 6 SOG
Duncan Youngclaus 2 Goals | 4 Shots | 3 SOG | 1 Ground Ball
Chris Smith 2 Goals | 4 Shots | 3 SOG
NOTEWORTHY
- Tremblay recorded his third straight hat trick and has scored at least one goal in all seven of his games for Albertus.
- Alec Kovalsky (Orange, Conn.) netted his first career goal in the fourth period.
- Strecker has netted goals in three of his last four games.
- Albanese caused a game-high five turnovers. The defender leads the Falcons with 21 caused turnovers this season and is fourth in the GNAC — second in the south division.
UP NEXT
The Falcons travel to FDU-Florham on Wednesday, March 27 with a 6 p.m. game start.
