WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Catholic University men's lacrosse team won its third consecutive game as it downed Curry College, 11-4, on Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals were powered by a Victor Rosado hat trick, a shutdown second half defensively and brilliance at the face-off X from Ryan Macksoud.
Macksoud's face-off dominance was a theme throughout the duration of the contest, as the junior went an impressive 13-for-17 at the X. Curry had no answer for Macksoud who lost only one draw outright, as three of his four losses were due to violations.
The game was a cagey affair in the first half with the teams traded 3-1 quarter victories to enter halftime knotted at four goals apiece. Catholic scored the first two goals of the contest 57 seconds apart when Liam O'Neil and Ian Wick both struck with unassisted tallies midway through the first quarter. Curry halved the deficit on the man-up with just under four minutes remaining in the opening stanza.
Catholic received a big momentum boost right at the end of the first quarter when Mason Russo produced a brilliant bit of quick-thinking and a feat of pin-point accuracy. With just a few seconds remaining, the defender fired a length-of-the-field pass to Rosado, who caught it in stride before firing a powerful shot past the Colonel goalie to beat the buzzer.
Curry responded well though, quickly drawing level in the second quarter. The Colonel netted twice on the man-up in the opening 2:04 of the quarter, taking advantage of a Cardinal non-releasable penalty. Curry went 3-for-4 on extra-man opportunities in the first half.
Both teams scored once more in the second quarter but neither side could find the net for the final seven minutes of the stanza to ensure the teams entered halftime all square.
Rosado scored again just two minutes into third quarter before leading goal-scorer Steven Dezelic netted his 14th of the campaign midway through the stanza. It was the defense, however, that was the talking point as Catholic clamped down on the Colonels to not allow a single goal in the second half.
After just the two goals in quarter number three, Peter Donley's men continued to ride the strong defensive effort until two Curry penalties in the same passage of play gave the Cardinals a two-player advantage. Catholic made no mistake, cashing in on the numerical advantage to score both on the two-player EMO and the ensuing single-player advantage to push the lead to 8-4.
John Hadden scored the first man-up goal before Bjorn Olofson struck. Olofson then took a Rosado assist to score an even-strength tally to secure a first multi-goal game of his collegiate career. Only 67 seconds separated the two Olofson strikes.
Rosado secured his hat trick midway through the final quarter before Erik Aulbach joined in on the fun to register the first goal of his collegiate career. Catholic ended the game on a 7-0 second-half run and did not concede a goal for the final 37 minutes of the contest. The Cardinal defense has been especially stout in the second half the past two games, only allowing one combined goal after halftime in the victories over Mary Washington and Curry.
Mike Tayloe led the defensive unit with a massive performance, racking up a staggering five caused turnovers and scooping up four ground balls. O'Neil also had a solid showing, adding three caused turnovers and five ground balls to his goal on the attacking end. Freshman Tyler Merchant made six saves and collected four ground balls as he moved to 3-2 on the season.
Having now concluded a three-game homestand, Catholic will travel north on Tuesday for a match-up with Cabrini. Opening face-off in Radnor is set for 6 p.m.
