Marywood 8, Gwynedd Mercy 5
2015 CSAC Tournament Semifinal


BOX SCORE


SCRANTON, PA. -- The Gwynedd Mercy Men's Lacrosse Team suffered an 8-5 defeat at Marywood in a semifinal matchup of the CSAC Tournament on Saturday afternoon.

The third-seeded Griffins and second-seeded Pacers met for the second year in a row and fifth time overall, with a berth to the CSAC Final. Gwynedd led 3-2 after the first and 5-3 at the half, but would go scoreless in the third and fourth.

Junior Tony McCraw (Lawnton, Pa./Central Dauphin East) led GMercyU with two goals and added eight groundballs, while winning 9-of-15 faceoffs. Juniors Blase Cesarone (Douglassville, Pa./Daniel Boone) and Nick Guglielmi (Holland, Pa./Council Rock South) along with sophomore Alfonso Manzo (Manahawkin, N.J./Southern) also scored for the Griffins. Senior Nico Belardo (Columbus, N.J./Northern Burlington) chipped in two assists.

Defensively, sophomore Marc Bushong (Sewell, N.J./Washington Twp.) had team highs of nine groundballs and four caused turnovers.

Sam Trill led Marywood (11-4) with three goals. Scott Slater and Rob Maini each added two. Trill scored twice in the third, with his man-up tally at the 3:56 mark, giving the Pacers their first lead of the game.

McCraw opened the scoring with an unassisted goal 2:53 into the first quarter, followed by Guglielmi who added a score 2:25 later on an assist from Manzo for a 2-0 lead.

Goals from Maini and Slater later in the period would knot it back up, but Cesarone would get in a late goal with seconds remaining to make it a 3-2 GMercyU advanatge. Like the first quarter, McCraw scored first in the second on a helper from Belardo. Manzo backed that up with his unassisted rip at the 9:48 mark and it was a 5-2 edge. Trill found the back of the net on a helper from Maini before the half, where it stood as a two-goal lead for the Griffins.

Gwynedd outshot Marywood, 31-14, in the first two quarters, and would total 53 on the day. In total, the team was a perfect 9-for-9 on its clears and committed a season-low seven turnovers, but could not solve Pacer goalie Joe Margargal, who finished the game with 24 saves. Senior goalie John Black (Lancaster, Pa./Hempfield) made 14 saves of
his own to keep pace.

It would mark the final game for the team's six seniors: Belardo, Black, Matt Richter (Gilbertsville, Pa./Boyertown), Dillon Cave (Philadelphia, Pa./Archbishop Ryan), Peter Pappas (Newtown Square, Pa./Great Valley), and Reese Lachner (Flemington, N.J./Hunterdon Central). The bunch leaves with some new records under their belt, as the 2015 Griffins went 11-5, setting the mark for most wins in a season. Belardo departs as the program's all-time points leader with 146. He and McCraw (136) are two of only five players in school history to reach the century mark in career points.