MADISON, N.J. – To cap off a stellar 2016 season, the Fairleigh Dickinson University-Florham men's lacrosse team defeated the Wilkes University Colonels 11-9 on Senior Day at Robert T. Shields Field.
FDU-Florham fell into a three-way tie in the conference standings and despite the victory over the Colonels (0-15, 0-7 MAC Freedom), the Devils (6-9, 4-3 MAC Freedom) finished just shy of qualifying for the conference tournament.
The Devils were led on the offensive end on Saturday afternoon by David Stewart's three goals. On a day to honor the seniors, graduate student Ryan Berkenbush netted a pair of goals. Junior attack Kevin Loveland also found the back of the net twice in the Devils' win over the Colonels.
FDU-Florham quickly got to work and off of the opening faceoff, senior Daniel Minnich had the ball and he dished it over to Loveland for the score. A few minutes later, Loveland sent the ball into the net for his second score of the game.
After the Colonels' goalkeeper, Brian Manning, denied a Minnich shot, Wilkes had the ball but they threw it away and possession returned to FDU-Florham. The Devils worked their way down the field and the ball landed in the stick of Berkenbush and he rifled a shot into the back of the net to give FDU-Florham the 3-0 advantage.
The Devils offense continued to have success and in the second period, sophomore Dan Sagl scored to cap of a 4-0 run.
Following a score by the Colonels to cut the deficit to three, the Devils responded with a pair of goals by Stewart and senior Brandan Morales.
The Devils lead grew to seven at the half after Berkenbush and junior Dalton Rimmer each scored in the final three minutes of the second period.
Wilkes scored in the third period to end another 4-0 run by the Devils, but FDU-Florham once again was quick to respond and this time it was senior Frank Salustri who caught a pass from Matt Melnik and fired it into the net for the score.
Trailing 9-2, the Colonels offense got into a rhythm and the momentum began to shift. Wilkes went on a 4-1 run to cut the deficit to three goals early in the final period of action.
Once Stewart completed the hat trick with his third goal of the game in the early stages of the fourth period, the Colonels offense went back to work and went on a 3-0 run. With an 11-9 lead the Devils were able to ward off the Colonels and claim the MAC Freedom victory.
