Frostburg, Md. - The Frostburg State Men's Lacrosse team secured their spot in the ECC Championship Game for the second-straight season with a 21-13 victory over Roberts Wesleyan on Wednesday evening.
After five minutes of back-and-forth action, Roberts Wesleyan's Jordon Deats was first to score in a defensive battle. Frostburg quickly tied the game after senior Tanner Donaldson found the back of the net, but RWU took the lead again after scoring back-to-back goals put them up 3-1. Senior Owen McCallum cut the lead down to a goal after scoring unassisted, though yet again the Redhawks scored another set of goals back-to-back, putting them up 5-2 in the last few minutes of the quarter. FSU scored three goals in less than a minute to tie the score going into the second, with seniors Chase Buckwalter and Bubba Love getting the Bobcats back in the game at 5-5.
Dan Doviak was first to score in the second for Roberts Wesleyan for a 6-5 lead. Junior Austin Sipes had his first goal of the day to tie the score at 6-6, followed by senior Jake Bowman and Sipes going back-to-back goals to take the lead 8-6 in the middle of the second. Doviak earned another goal after FSU was a man down to get within 8-7. Not holding back, Frostburg scored the last four goals of the half, as Donaldson capitalized on a man-up opportunity, with Sipes, senior Evan Dere, and McCallum all finding the back of the net to go up 12-7 at the half.
Once again, RWU scored the first goal of the quarter in the third, eventually making it back-to-back to get within 12-9. The comeback hopes all but ended when Bowman, McCallum, senior Justin Hulse, Love, and Sipes were able to attack the goal with fervor and gave FSU their biggest lead at 17-9 going into the fourth quarter.
Sipes put up another goal to start the fourth, followed by junior Cole Blanche getting his first goal of the day put Frostburg up by ten 19-9. After six minutes with no score, Reid Jackowski put the Redhawks in double digits at 19-10. Ethan Brown and Matt Walsh each put another goal in to cut FSU's lead to 19-12, but McCallum and Bowman scored one more goal each to end the scoring for FSU and put them up 21-12. Jordon Deats scored the last goal of the game to bring the final score to 21-13.
Love (3 goals, 5 assists), Bowman (3 goals, 4 assists), and Sipes (5 goals, 1 assist) all had fantastic days, going for a total of 21 points. Senior Matt Sharkey and sophomores Seamus Kearney and Drew Mullineaux helped lead the defensive effort, combining for seven caused turnovers and six groundballs, while graduate Mitch Meckley made 11 saves in goal.
With today's win, Frostburg moves to an overall record of 13-4 while Roberts Wesleyan ends its season at 9-4. FSU advances to the ECC Championship Game at No. 1 seed Mercy, with game time to be determined from Dobbs Ferry, N.Y.
Provided by the Frostburg State Sports Information Department.
