Written by Sports Information Student Assistant, Jake Sipes-Salter
HANOVER, Ind. - The Hanover men's lacrosse team will look to capitalize on their strong start to conference play as they host Thiel (Pa.) at 1 p.m., Sunday, March 25.
THE COMPETITION: The Panthers' opponent, the Thiel Tomcats, have a 1-4 record, including a recent 6-5 loss to fellow Ohio River Lacrosse Conference rival Transylvania (Ky.). In the Blue and Red's 2017 matchup versus Thiel, they suffered a heartbreaking 11-10 overtime loss. The contest went back and forth, with Hanover outscoring the Tomcats in two of the four periods. However, they were befallen with a goal 12 minutes into extra time.
STRONG START TO CONFERENCE SEASON: In the Panthers most recent matchup against Bethany (W. Va.), HC came out with a 20-2 victory. Junior Joseph DeLeo (Waterford, Mich.) came out of the game with four goals and four assists, while fellow classmate Gage Hafl (Hamilton, Ohio) finished with three goals and two assists.
Freshman Ian Kimmins (Dayton, Ohio) recorded four of his six season goals on the afternoon as well, while sophomore Dallas Fonner (Evansville, Ind.) added three to continue his recent success. Overall, the Blue and Red had seven players score, with all of them tallying multiple goals.
Defensively, HC caused 18 of the 32 Bison turnovers, with sophomore Andrew Trachtman (Carmel, Ind.) and junior Al Alessia (Crown Point, Ind.) each causing three apiece. DeLeo led the squad with nine groundballs, while sophomore goalkeeper Noah Dubrava (Centerville, Ohio) finished with seven of his own and six saves in net.
FOR THE SEASON: Offensively, DeLeo leads the Blue and Red in goals (12), assists (7), and total points (19). Hafl is second in total points with 11, totaling six goals and five assists. Fonner has been hot as of late, recording six total points in the past two contests and ten points over the past five outings.
Junior Bret Schell (Dayton, Ohio) has registered 28 groundballs to lead the squad while also being part of a three-way tie atop the Panthers statistical leaderboard with seven caused turnovers. Trachtman and freshman defender Max Kleiman (Hudson, Ohio) have also caused seven turnovers. Noah Dubrava currently ranks in the top five among ORLC goalkeepers with 73 saves.
Contact: Tyler Jester
jestert@hanover.edu
