MADISON,NJ - Susquehanna men's lacrosse headed to Drew again on Tuesday in the opening round of the Landmark Conference Tournament, hoping to have the same result against the Rangers from their 10-7 regular-season victory on Mar. 22 to advance to the league semifinals. Despite the Rangers being the third seed, the sixth-seeded River Hawks reminded everyone that anything can happen in the postseason, with a 13-7 win to back their claim. Susquehanna advances to the semifinals for the fourth straight year, traveling to Elizabethtown Thursday in a 4 p.m. matchup.
Drew started the scoring in the first period after a defensive first ten minutes from both teams. Jack Gaillard single-handedly knotted it up just minutes after the initial score. Drew won the period with a late goal to take the early 2-1 lead. Minutes into the second frame, Brennan Lorence knotted the game back up at two all, before Drew regained the lead just minutes later. Chris Ciccarello threw his name into the mix scoring SU's third goal of the game. SU's first lead of the game came at the hands of Nick Remund when he was assisted by Ciccarello. Kieran Thomas pushed the lead to two late in the second period. Kieran Thomas assisted Gaillard to take a 6-3 lead into the half.
No more than one minute into the second half, Ciccarello gave SU the four-goal lead, but Drew would not go away. Pat McDermott pushed the SU lead to five, before Drew racked off two more goals to end the third period. Susquehanna led the contest 8-5 after the third frame. The fourth period was all SU, as they only gave up two goals to the five that they scored. Kieran Thomas pushed the SU lead back to four, followed by a Gaillard goal to push it to five. Drew cut into the lead by one, before Thomas earned teh hat trick for SU. Drew scored their last goal of the season with 1:34 remaining in the game, while the River Hawks scored two more. Ciccarello earned a goal and an assist when Nick Remund scored the 13th and final goal for SU.
Gaillard and Ciccarello's big days offered them not only at least one more game in their storied careers, but perhaps another opportunity to crack 100 points in one season, an unheard of accomplishment at Susquehanna. Ciccarello's game-high five points on three goals and two assists gives him 61 goals and 32 assists on the year for a total of 93 points. Gaillard may not have added an assist Tuesday to his nation-leading 61 assists on the season, but his three goals puts him at 99 points on the season with 38 goals and 61 assists. As for Thomas, his three goals and one assist on the day proved vital, bringing him to 29 points this spring on 22 goals and seven assists. Goalie Augie Granatelli had a marvelous day in net, recording 16 saves to keep Drew at bay to pick up his tenth win of the season and 16th of his career.
The River Hawks' next task requires knocking off an Elizabethtown team that captured the number-two seed for the Landmark Tournament that went through the regular season 8-1 in the Landmark, including defeating Susquehanna in the regular-season finale 13-7. For Susquehanna, they can look back at last year and remind themselves that they defeated the Blue Jays in overtime, 9-8.
