Box score
ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Widener University scored three goals in the final 5 minutes, 10 seconds of the third quarter to break a 4-4 tie and go on to an 8-5 win over Elizabethtown College in a Middle Atlantic Conference men's lacrosse semifinal match Wednesday afternoon at Wolf Field.
The sixth-seeded Pride (9-9 overall) advanced to Saturday's championship match against second-seeded FDU-Florham, which defeated Messiah College 9-4 in Wednesday's other semifinal game.
Cory Malampy finished with two goals and an assist to lead the Widener offense, while Ryan Shewell had a goal and two assists and Steve Cull tallied a pair of goals.
Elizabethtown was led by
Aaron Weber, who scored two goals and an assist, while
Jon Day,
Cory Boushell and
Keith Staulters each recorded a goal and an assist. Four of Elizabethtown's five goals came with the man advantage, as the teams combined for 18 penalties in the contest.
Elizabethtown scored the lone goal of the first quarter as Weber scored with the man advantage with 2:40 left in the period. Day tallied a man-up goal to extend the Blue Jay lead to 2-0 with 12:10 left in the second quarter, but Mark Kane and Malampy responded to tie the game at 2-2 with 6:15 left in the half.
Widener turned the tables on Elizabethtown late in the quarter to take a 3-2 lead, as Cull scored a man-down goal to send the Pride to halftime with a one-goal advantage.
Shewell scored 1:23 into the third quarter to push Widener to a 4-2 lead, but Staulters and Boushell answered to tie the score at 4-4 with 5:19 left in the third quarter.
Widener untied the score just nine seconds later, as a fast break off a faceoff win led to a goal from Kevin Rider and a 5-4 Pride lead. Cull and JJ Hoeffler followed with goals a minute apart later in the quarter to give Widener a 7-4 lead entering the final 15 minutes of play.
Weber scored what turned out to be Elizabethtown's final goal of the season and the last of his career just 44 seconds into the fourth quarter, but Widener maintained possession for much of the final 14 minutes and added an insurance goal with 8:32 left from Malampy.
Widener held a 28-25 advantage in shots over Elizabethtown for the game, while the Blue Jays committed 21 turnovers and failed on seven clears. The Blue Jays did finish with a 27-21 edge in ground balls and won 10 of the game's 16 faceoffs.
Defensively,
Mike Kenneally led Elizabethtown with five ground balls and two caused turnovers, while the Pride received five ground balls and three caused turnovers from Dave Simcox.
Brendan Corcoran made 10 saves in goal for the Blue Jays, with Bobby Schluter tallying six stops for the Pride.
Weber finished his brilliant four-year career at Elizabethtown as the program's career leader in goals (143), assists (108) and points (251).