JU Men’s lacrosse splits Colorado road swing with win over Air Force
Written by Lee Roggenburg on . Posted in Uncategorized.
Dolphins improve to 2-2
Denver- Senior Bobby Stockton continued his torrid start with four goals and an assist to lift the JU men’s lacrosse team to a 10-7 win over Air Force on Sunday afternoon in a neutral site contest.
Stockton’s second four-goal game improved the Dolphins to 2-2 and gave JU a split in the Face-Off Classic at Denver’s Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium. Air Force’s Vinny Sandtorv scored three goals but the Falcons still dropped to 1-3.
Stockton scored four goals in the season opener against Georgetown and matched that feat against Air Force with a career-high five-point game. Despite coming off the bench in all four games, the midfielder leads the team with 11 goals and has scored in every game this season.
Fellow middie Donovan Lange provided the complementary scoring, adding two goals and two ground balls. JU never trailed against Air Force and freshman goalie Peter DeLuca made 15 saves. The first-year netminder set a career high in saves to help the Dolphins atone for a loss on Saturday to No. 18 Denver.
JU scored four straight goals to break open a 3-3 game in the third quarter with Stockton having a hand in three of those scoring strikes.
Tyler Black started the run with an even strength goal with 10:34 remaining. Nearly four minutes later, Stockton capitalized on Max Gurowski’s feed to put JU up 5-3.Just 13 seconds later, Stockton set up Robert Moore’s man-up goal before adding the final goal of the quarter with 1:15 left to give JU a 7-3 edge.
Lange and Owen Green added goals in the fourth quarter’s first 12 minutes before Stockton’s final goal with 3:26 remaining gave JU a 10-5 cushion.
DeLuca made that lead stand-up in improving to 2-2. After winning a three-man open competition before the season, the netminder was steady as Air Force fired 50 total shots. Sandtorv scored two of his goals in the second half in finishing with 14 shots. DeLuca also saw plenty of Zack Carroll, who had one goal and two assists for the Falcons on 11 shots.
DeLuca also received help from his defense. JU’s pressure forced 28 off-target shots while starting defensemen Tanner Gard, Jake Ziegler and Corey Lovrich each caused two turnovers. The Dolphins also forced six failed clears by the Falcons.
JU will return home to face Robert Morris on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. at the Ashley Sports Complex.