Harford Men’s Lacrosse Splits Games Against Hudson Valley, Brookdale; Wednesday’s Contest at Howard Postponed

From the HCC sports desk:

BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men’s lacrosse team split its two games over the spring break period as it was edged by Hudson Valley, 14-12 on March 21 and downed Brookdale, 9-6 last Saturday at Harford Stadium. The Fighting Owls improved to 4-5 on the season and snapped a four-game losing skid with the victory over the Jersey Blues (0-5).

Freshman Andrew Gilpin (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) and sophomore Chad Palmer (Fallston, Md./Fallston) each tallied nine points over the two-game span, with Gilpin totaling eight goals and one assist and Palmer four goals and five assists.

Gilpin led Harford with six goals against the Vikings (3-0), including a natural hat trick, while Palmer added five points of his own (2g, 3a) and the game against Brookdale saw Palmer put up two goals and assists each, with Gilpin adding three points on two goals and an assist.

Freshmen Bryan Burrill (Forest Hill, Md./C. Milton Wright) and Lee Single (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) split time in goal against Hudson Valley with Burrill giving up nine goals and making 10 saves in 30:00 to take the loss and Single accounting for 12 saves and five goals against.

Both keepers would see action against Brookdale, as well with Burrill going three quarters of the way and making eight saves in 45:00, while giving up three scores, and Single corralling three shots and letting three past him in the fourth quarter.

The game against Hudson Valley saw scoring occur in spurts for both teams, with the Vikings leading from start to finish as they opened up a 5-0 lead over the Owls by two minutes into the second quarter.

Harford would answer with four goals of its own within 1:13 of each other, but would still trail Hudson, 5-4, before the Vikings added another five straight to take a 9-4 advantage into the half.

Jordan Jacques, who tallied seven points in the contest (5g, 2a), completed a natural hat trick to start the second half, scoring just 2:26 into the period after notching the last two goals of the second, to put Hudson up, 10-4.

The Owls would cut that lead to four on consecutive goals by freshmen Joe Rosenkilde (Monkton, Md./North Harford) and Craig Hanzelka (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood), both assisted by Palmer, before the Vikings added two goals to end the third and began the fourth with two more for a four-goal run to take their largest lead of the game, 14-6.

Hanzelka tallied his third goal of the game with 12:15 remaining in the fourth before Gilpin began his natural hat trick, scoring at the 12:00, 10:53 and 8:30 marks to bring Harford within four, 14-10.

Gilpin would add one more goal with 3:26 remaining, after Palmer’s goal at the 5:22 mark, to cut the deficit to two, but neither team would score for the remainder of the game as Hudson Valley pulled out the 14-12 win.

Sean O’Connell led the Vikings with nine total points (3g, 6a), while Kevin DeCelle and Alan Hiltz split time in the cage, with DeCelle making three saves and Hiltz two.

The game against Brookdale saw Harford lead from the start, as sophomore Steve Taylor (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) converted off Hanzelka’s pass just 48 seconds into the period before both teams saw nine minutes of scoreless play.

Jim Stonack broke the silence for Brookdale with a goal off Mike Millburn’s pass with 5:14 remaining to knot the score but Harford would add two more before the period expired and then two more in the second to take a 5-1 lead into the half.

A goal by Rosenkilde off Palmer’s feed would complete a three goal run for the Owls at the 13:23 mark in the third and Brookdale would maintain that five-goal deficit by adding two goals and allowing two goals to make the score 8-3 after three periods of play.

Palmer would add the final Owl goal during the first two minutes of the fourth and Brookdale would see a burst of offensive effort within the final minutes, scoring three goals within 30 seconds of one another to make the final score 9-6.

Stonack led the Blues with three goals, while John Tanner totaled 20 saves in the 60:00 for Brookdale.

The Fighting Owls return to action on Friday, when they travel to Stevenson to face the jayvee squad at 6:00 p.m. The Owls contest at Howard, which was originally scheduled for Wednesday, April 1 at 3:30 p.m. has been postponed to Monday, April 20 at 3:30 p.m.