Delaware Stomps Vermont

BY TIFFANY SIRMANS

Staff Reporter

When the Delaware men's lacrosse team stepped on the field Wednesday afternoon, Vermont was not the only opponent awaiting their arrival. They also had to face the muddy conditions the rain left behind.

But these Hens were fighting either way, and would take on the mud and demolish Vermont 14-3 in their second conference match-up of the year.

The Hens (3-1, 1-1 America East), ranked 16th in the country, found revenge with the win after suffering a 17-12 loss to the Catamounts (0-2, 0-1 America East) in their only contest last year.

Junior midfielder Jim Bruder, who made last year's First-team All-America East, reached the third- longest scoring streak in Delaware history by netting a goal for the 23rd straight game. In the afternoon, he had one goal and one assist.

Junior attacker Kevin Lavey also reached a milestone during the game, as he attained the 100-point mark with his three goals and three assists against Vermont.

Hens coach Bob Shillinglaw said he was satisfied with Lavey's efforts.

"I'm very happy for Kevin," he said. "He's had two solid games for us and will hopefully make it a third [on Saturday against Navy]."

Delaware opened up a 9-0 scoring run on the Catamounts in the second half of the game and never trailed in the contest.

The Hens won the first face-off against the Catamounts and led the rest of the game. Junior attacker Kevin Gattie and Lavey both scored a goal in the first quarter to give the Hens an early 2-0 lead.

Sophomore attacker Jason Schell and junior mid-fielder Pram Dass Hissler scored the Catamounts' only two goals of the first half to make the score 6-2. With 7:55 left in the third quarter, Hissler posted Vermont's last goal of the game. The score was never close again, as Delaware erupted for seven goals in the third quarter alone.

Junior attacker John Grant and Lavey combined for six of Delaware's 14 goals. When the two were not scoring themselves, they were feeding their fellow teammates, totaling seven assists for the game.

Even with the win, Grant, who had three goals and four assists, said the team didn't do as well as it could have.

"The game was a little sloppy," Grant said.

Shillinglaw also said the team's play was not up to caliber, despite the high offensive effort. He cited the fact that the team has played two high-ranked teams in Hofstra and Butler, and the intensity was not the same for the non-seeded Catamounts.

"We didn't play with the same sharpness," he said. "It was somewhat of a let-down going in, even if it was a conference game."

Vermont goalkeeper Carl Langfeldt had 20 saves, but still could not contain the Delaware offense. Delaware goalkeepers Ron Jedlicka and Kevin Tiernan combined for 12 saves in the contest.

Shillinglaw said the win against the America East rival made the game more significant.

"I am real excited about the conference win," he said. "The fact that we got a lot of our players involved on offense was an advantage."

Delaware's next opponent will be Navy on Saturday. The Midshipmen, who are 3-2 for the season, are ranked 17th nationally.

"Our game against Navy is going to be tough, but we are ready," Shillinglaw said.

The Midshipmen are coming off of a 7-6 loss to Duke last Sunday. In their only meeting last season, Navy defeated the Hens 18-10

"It's going to be a good game," Shillinglaw said. "They have strong players and offensively and defensively are going to come out hard."