Ben Worthington	Matt Finor
Dillon McInerney	John Gregitis

Box Score

LANCASTER, Pa.—When Doug Sage took over as head coach of The University of Scranton men’s lacrosse program last summer, his number one priority was to establish the Royals as a nationally-respected program.

He’s well on his well to reaching that goal.

Today, the Royals put up another valiant effort against a nationally-ranked opponent, dropping a 7-6 decision in overtime against 15th-ranked Franklin & Marshall College.  Earlier this year, Scranton put up quite a fight before losing an 8-3 decision to top-ranked Cortland St. in upstate New York.

With just 38 seconds left in the overtime period, senior midfielder Jordan Barr (Hagertown, Md./St. James School) capped off a two-goal performance by scoring the game-winner on a play set up by junior attacker Billy Kempner (Seaford, NY/Seaford), who finished with a goal and three assists.

The Diplomats, now 8-3, also received two goals from junior midfielder Jamie McCulloch (Ossining, NY/Ossining), a goal and an assist from senior attacker Tristan Miller (Manhasset, NY/Manhasset), and a goal from senior midfielder A.J. Reichert (West Windsor, NJ/West Windsor-Plainsboro).

Senior midfielder Dillon McInerney (Hawthorne, NJ/Bergen Catholic) led the Royals, which had a six-game winning streak snapped—its longest since 1999 and one away from setting a new school record—with two goals and senior attacker Taylor Nelson (Chester Springs, Pa./Downingtown East) finished with a goal and an assists.

Scranton, now 7-4, also received a goal apiece from junior midfielder John Gregitis (Wayne, Pa./St. Joseph’s Preparatory), junior attacker Gus Sturm (Devon, Pa./Conastoga), and freshman midfielder Alec Mikrut (Belle Mead, NJ/Montgomery).

The Royals offset the Diplomats’ 39-28 advantage in shots by winning 11 of 16 face-off, including 7 of 11 by sophomore midfielderMatt Finor (Churchville, Pa./Council Rock), and behind a 9-save effort from senior goalkeeper Ben Worthington (Jenkintown, Pa./Archbishop Wood).

Scranton led 4-3 at halftime before the Diplomats open the third period with three straight goals to a 6-4 lead.  Gregitis cut the margin to 6-5 with a goal with just one second left in the third period and Mikrut tied it with an unassisted goal with 14:04 left in the final stanza.

The Royals did manage to win the opening face-off in overtime, but missed their next two shot attempts before the Diplomats came up with a ground ball, a successful clear, and Jordan’s game-winning goal after he had missed two seconds earlier on a previous shot attempt.

The Royals will host Susquehanna University in Landmark Conference action this Saturday, April 13, at 1:00 p.m. at Fitzpatrick Field.

--ROYALS--