Palmer Adds Six Goals as Harford Men’s Lacrosse Wins Third Straight, Downs Williamson, 10-5

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men’s lacrosse team won its second straight game at Harford Stadium as sophomore Chad Palmer (Fallston, Md./Fallston) led the Fighting Owls (3-1) to a 10-5 victory over Williamson Free Trade on Saturday afternoon.

The Owls have now won their last three games since dropping their season-opener against Lindenwood on Feb. 21, while the Mechanics fall to 1-1 on the season.

Palmer led Harford with eight points on the day with six goals and two assists including a natural hat trick over the second and third quarters. Palmer equaled his offensive output from Harford’s overtime win over Delaware Tech-Terry on Thursday, where he also totaled eight points (7g, 1a).

Freshman Andrew Gilpin (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) added another five points (2g, 3a) for the Owls, while Chris Kirschner led the way for the Mechanics with four points (3g, 1a).

Harford never trailed for the duration of the game and was tied with Williamson just once as it jumped to a 1-0 lead just five minutes into the opening quarter as freshman Joe Rosenklde (Monkton, Md./North Harford) connected with Palmer. It would be the first of three times that the duo would link up, including six minutes later as the pair notched their second goal of the day with 3:33 remaining to give Harford a 2-0 lead.

Kirschner would add his first tally of the day off a feed from Rob Cooper with 2:00 left in the first to cut the Mechanic deficit to one after one period of play and Kirschner would add another point on Shane Coyle’s goal with 10:22 to go in the second to knot the score at two.

It would be the last time that the teams would be tied, however, as Palmer would begin scoring his natural hat trick towards the end of the second period.

Rosenklde and Palmer connected for the last time with 2:29 remaining in the second and just over two minutes later, Gilpin found Palmer to give the Owls a two-goal, 4-2 lead going into the half.

Gilpin fed Palmer again with 12:18 left in the third as Palmer completed his hat trick and two minutes later the two would reverse roles as Gilpin tallied the goal and Palmer the assist with 10:19 to go, giving Harford a 6-2 lead over Williamson.

The Mechanics finally broke their 20+ minute scoring drought at the 5:00 mark in the third when Frank Costa added an unassisted score, but Harford would quickly answer as Gilpin notched his fourth point of the day, assisting on freshman Craig Hanzelka’s (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) goal just 40 seconds later at the 4:20 mark.

Harford would take the 7-3 lead into the fourth quarter, which saw a slew of penalties for both teams, including three in the first five minutes and seven total for the period, but Harford would notch just one extra-man goal in the fourth, the first for either team the entire game.

Both teams were extremely efficient on the penalty kill on Saturday as they combined for one successful extra man opportunity in 10 total attempts (Harford: 1-4, Williamson: 0-6).

The first score of the fourth didn’t come until after three penalties elapsed (two for Harford, one for Williamson), when Rosenklde found the back of the net with 7:32 remaining to increase the Owl lead to five, 8-3.

Kirschner added his second goal of the game off Costa’s pass less than 1:30 later at the 6:04 mark to bring the deficit back down to four, but Palmer would add his sixth and final goal with 3:50 left to bring the Harford lead back to five, 9-4.

Palmer assisted Gilpin at the 2:54 mark as Harford notched the first and only extra-man goal after Dave Paterson was called for a 1:00 slashing penalty at the 3:50 mark and Kirschner would tally the final score for either team, with an unassisted goal with 1:00 left in the game as Harford earned the 10-5 win.

The Owls dominated in nearly every statistical category, taking 46 shots to Williamson’s 24, corralling 57 ground balls to the Mechanics’ 38 and winning 11-of-18 battles in the face-off circle.

Harford was also successful on 90% of its clear attempts, failing on just three chances (27-30), while the Mechanics were a dismal 54% on clearing (22-41).

Williamson did hold an advantage in saves as Phil Rayer totaled 24 saves in 60:00, while freshmen Bryan Burrill (Forest Hill, Md./C. Milton Wright) and Lee Single (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) combined for eight saves in the 60:00 (Burrill-45:00, 7 sv; Single-15:00, 1 sv).

The Fighting Owls return to action this weekend when they travel to upstate New York to take on NJCAA Division II No. 4 Nassau and No. 6 Suffolk beginning with a 2:00 p.m. game at Suffolk on Saturday.

Lacrosse Game Summary (Final)
The Automated ScoreBook For Lacrosse
Williamson vs Harford (Mar 07, 2009 at Bel Air, Md.)

Williamson (1-1) vs. Harford (3-1)
Date: Mar 07, 2009 Location: Bel Air, Md. Stadium: Harford Stadium
Attendance:117 Start time:2:00 pm End time:3:57 Total time:1:57

SCORE BY PERIOD 1 2 3 4 Tot
————————————-
Williamson………. 1 1 1 2 – 5
Harford…………. 2 2 3 3 – 10

Williamson SCORING: GOALS: Kirschner, Chris 3; Costa, Frank 1; Coyle,
Shane 1.
ASSISTS: Cooper, Rob 1; Costa, Frank 1; Kirschner, Chris 1.

Harford SCORING: GOALS: Palmer, Chad 6; Gilpin, Andrew 2; Rosenklde,
Joe 1; Hanzelka, Craig 1.
ASSISTS: Gilpin, Andrew 3; Rosenklde, Joe 3; Palmer, Chad 2.

Williamson GROUND BALLS: Rayer, Phil 12; Farrelly, Declan 4;
Kirschner, Chris 4; Cooper, Rob 3; Costa, Frank 2; Lazaro, Garry 2;
Mouraview, Dan 2; Scache, RJ 2; Barksdale, Max 1; Conte, Larry 1;
Coyle, Shane 1; Himmer, Andrew 1; Jones, Mike 1; Mccall, Cliff 1;
Sinnex, Steve 1.

Harford GROUND BALLS: Gilpin, Andrew 7; Hanzelka, Craig 6; Dance,
Miles 5; Rosenklde, Joe 5; Bello, BJ 4; Harrell, Russell 4; Noland,
Eddie 4; Burrill, Brian 3; Keesey, Scott 3; Palmer, Chad 3; Fike, Chad
2; Kenny, Branden 2; Stevenson, Brent 2; Taylor, Steve 2; Copper,
Tristen 1; Crenshaw, Jake 1; Leadore, Alex 1; Single, Lee 1; Turner,
Luke 1.

Williamson TURNOVERS CAUSED: Lazaro, Garry 6; Scache, RJ 3; Cooper,
Rob 1; Farrelly, Declan 1; Schieler, Chris 1; Sinnex, Steve 1.
Harford TURNOVERS CAUSED: Fike, Chad 3; Gilpin, Andrew 3; Keesey,
Scott 2; Noland, Eddie 2; Stevenson, Brent 2; Turner, Luke 2; Bello,
BJ 1; Dance, Miles 1; Harrell, Russell 1; Kenny, Branden 1; Palmer,
Chad 1; Rosenklde, Joe 1.

SHOTS – Williamson 24; Harford 46.
SHOTS ON GOAL – Williamson 13; Harford 34.

PENALTIES – Williamson 5/5:00; Harford 7/6:30.
MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES – Williamson 0-6; Harford 1-4.

TURNOVERS – Williamson 46; Harford 34.

FACEOFFS – Williamson 7-18; Harford 11-18.

CLEARS – Williamson 22-41; Harford 27-30.

GOALIES – WILL: Rayer, Phil 1-1 (60:00 minutes, 34 shots-24 saves, 10
GA); HCC: Burrill, Brian 3-1 (45:00, 10-7, 3) , Single, Lee (15:00,
3-1, 2).

Start time: 2:00 pm Finish time: 3:57 Length of game: 1:57
Officials:.

A-117 T-1:57