Box Score
Hackettstown, NJ – Nick Parks scored with 3:49 to play in Saturday's Colonial States Athletic Conference men's lacrosse game at Centenary College and the goal stood as the game-winner as the Pacers pulled out a 9-7 victory over the Cyclones. With the win, Marywood establishes a new program record for wins in a season while improving to 11-3 overall and 5-0 in the CSAC. Centenary sees their record drop to 5-7 on the season and 1-4 in conference play.
Anthony Tuscai (West Chester, PA) gave Marywood an early lead Saturday by scoring unassisted just 1:29 into the contest, but Jason Rieg equalized for Centenary at the 10:53 mark of the first quarter. Brian Roerden (Warwick, NY) took a pass from brother William Roerden (Warwick, NY) and scored with 7:21 to play in the first period to give the Pacers a 2-1 lead.Rieg again knotted the score for the Cyclones with the only goal of the second quarter, beating Marywood goalie Jesse Habich with 3:02 to play in the half on Conor Nolan's second assist of the game.
Marywood jumped out of the intermission with four goals in the first 6:06 of the second half, getting a pair apiece from George Downey IV (Palmyra, PA) and Gregory Nester (Morgantown, PA) to hold a 6-2 lead with 8:54 left in the third stanza. The Cyclones responded with a five-goal run of their own and took a 7-6 lead on Nolan's second goal of the game with 6:58 left in the fourth quarter.
Marywood's Jamie Beagen (Patchogue, NY) leveled the score at 7-7 off a William Roerden assist with 4:47 to play with an extra-man opportunity goal before Parks (Emmaus, PA) netted his 22nd goal of the season just 58 seconds. Parks' goal would prove to be the game-winner and William Roerden added an insurance marker, his team-leading 25th on the year, with 2:28 to play as the Pacers remain unbeaten in conference play.
The Pacers held a 43-25 advantage in shots for the game and a 32-26 edge in groundballs Marywood won 14 of the games 20 face-offs and converted on their only man-up opportunity while limiting the Cyclones to one goal in four extra-man opportunities.
William Roerden led Marywood's attack with four points on a goal and three assists while Downey (2 goals), Nester (2 goals), and Beagen (1 goal, 1 assist) each added two-point efforts for the Pacers. Centenary's Rieg led all scorers with six points on three goals and three helpers.
Habich (Broomall, PA) finished with nine saves to pick up his 11th win of the season while Cyclone goalie Kyle Burgess took the loss despite making 20 stops.
Marywood will close out the regular season portion of their schedule on Thursday evening when they host Cabrini College, ranked 13th in the nation in the latest USILA Coaches' Poll. The winner of Thursday's contest, which will begin at 6:00 p.m., will enjoy home-field advantage throughout the CSAC playoffs.
