Box Score

NEWPORT NEWS, Va. -- Despite receiving goals from seven different players and excelling on faceoffs throughout the game, the Christopher Newport men's lacrosse team could not overcome a six-goal halftime deficit as CNU dropped a 15-8 decision to No. 16 York during a Capital Athletic Conference battle on a saturated Saturday afternoon at Captains Turf Field.

During the game, Hunter King scored a pair of goals, while Brooks Billings, John Thompson, and Aaron Chrzaszcz all posted two points each. Nick Kirschke had a strong afternoon as well, winning 20 of 27 faceoffs to go along with 10 ground balls. His 20 faceoff victories are tied for the most in a single-game in CNU history, while his 10 ground balls place him 10th all-time at CNU.

Unfortunately, the squad could not overcome another first-half deficit as the Captains fell to 10-5 on the season, including 3-4 in the CAC. Christopher Newport will enter the conference tournament as the No. 6 seed and will travel to Mary Washington for a first-round bout on Wednesday.

The victory moves York to 14-3 on the season, including 6-1 in the CAC. The Spartans will enter the postseason as the league's No. 2 seed.

In the first half, York stormed out to a commanding lead. In the opening period, the visitors grabbed a 5-0 edge, highlighted by three goals from Tyler Davis. Although Chrzaszcz retaliated with a dart off a well-placed pass by Rolando early in the second, Davis shot back with a goal and an assist during the tail end of the half to push York's lead to 7-1 entering the break.

Needing to make some headway early in the third quarter, the Captains began to find a rhythm. With Kirschke simply unstoppable on faceoffs, Adam Abbate got things going on the offensive end with an absolute bullet off a pass from Brooks Billings. Later, following a York tally, King responded with a man-up strike at the 12-minute mark to whittle the deficit down to five at 8-3.

Unfortunately, the Spartans continued to poke at the CNU defense. Despite a pair of saves by Mark Hargrove and a caused turnover by Steven West, Tyler Hutson found some daylight with two straight goals in the third to grab a 10-3 edge entering the final frame.

After the visitors put the game out-of-reach with two more tallies at the beginning of the fourth quarter, the Captains found their footing with a nice run in the middle of the period. Rolando opened things up with his first goal of the game at 10:33. Six minutes later, John Keohane pieced together a fantastic effort. The freshman caused a turnover after intercepting a pass with a leaping stab in the defensive zone.

With control of the ball, Keohane cleared the zone and cut through the York midfield. After finding a little wiggle room on the offensive side, he sent a pass to Billings, who charged towards the goal and buried a bullet between the pipes to pull CNU back within seven at 12-5.

Showing heart, the hosts continued to fight despite back-to-back goals by the Spartans, which gave the visitors a 14-5 edge. During the waning moments of regulation, Thompson assisted on a man-up goal by King and scored following a pass by Gregory Limon. Later, Kirschke helped cap off CNU's scoring after winning a faceoff and dishing to Billy Crist, who fired a dagger with a minute left on the clock.

Overall, the two teams both posted 37 shots, while CNU led the way with 29 ground balls. The Captains also forced 10 turnovers, including two apiece by West, Keohane, Brenden Dwyer, and Michael Mabry. Unfortunately, the Spartans also received big efforts from their defense, including 10 saves by Caleb Abney and a pair of caused turnovers and three ground balls from Kevin Braun.

---CNU---