ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE MEN'S LACROSSE
Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Blue Jays Down King’s 9-5; Frankie Puzzangara Breaks Single-Game Ground Ball Record, Nears Career Marks in Goals and Ground Balls

ELIZABETHTOWN, Pa. --- Elizabethtown improved to a best-ever mark of 5-1 overall and 3-0 in the Middle Atlantic Conference with a 9-5 home win over King’s College (Pa.) Wednesday. King’s dropped to 1-6 overall and 1-2 in the MAC with the loss. In the game, Elizabethtown senior midfielder Frankie Puzzangara (Wallingford, PA/Strath Haven) set a new program record for most ground balls in a game with 16. He has also now pulled to within four goals and five ground balls of the Elizabethtown career records in each category.

Frankie Puzzangara '07

Elizabethtown scored the game’s first three goals and took a 3-1 lead into the end of the first quarter. King’s scored the first three goals of the second quarter over the next 11 minutes to take its only lead of the game, 4-3. The Blue Jays struck back with two goals in the last two minutes of the second quarter to regain a 5-4 lead. By the end of the third quarter, Elizabethtown extended its lead to 7-5.

Elizabethtown out-shot King’s 55-19 over the course of the game, and King’s goaltender Tim Cassi (Downingtown, PA/Downingtown) made 24 saves and had four ground balls. Elizabethtown also held a 43-30 edge in ground balls and won 16 out of 18 face-off attempts.

Puzzangara’s record-breaking16 ground balls against King’s boosted his career total to 259, five shy of the program career record of 264 set by Chris McCrea ’05. He also scored three goals and had one assist, increasing his career goal total to 103, four away from the Elizabethtown career record of 107 set by Matt Newell ’05. Puzzangara also won 14 out of the 16 face-offs he took against King’s.

Aaron Weber (Lititz, PA/Manheim Township) also scored three goals for Etown, and he had two assists and five ground balls. Josh Dougherty (Ocean City, MD/Worcester Prep.) scored twice for Etown, and Brad Whitcomb (Taneytown, MD/Francis Scott Key) scored one goal. Keith Staulters (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) assisted two goals for Etown, and Andrew Wagner (Bel Air, MD/C. Milton Wright) had one assist. Eric Peifer (Lancaster, PA/Hempfield) had seven ground balls, and Chris Schuch (Columbia, PA/Hempfield) made five saves and one ground ball for Etown in the goal.

John Booth (Boothwyn, PA/Garnet Valley) scored two goals and had one assist for King’s, and Chris Landry (Syracuse, NY/East Syracuse Minoa) scored two goals as well. Gary Morgan (Philadelphia, PA/Archbishop Ryan) scored one goal as well for King’s.

Elizabethtown will return to action on the road Saturday, March 31 at Immaculata University in a 12:00 p.m. non-conference game.

At Elizabethtown, Pa.
Elizabethtown 9, King’s 5
Score by period       1 2 3 4 Tot
-------------------------------------
King's (Pa.)......... 1 3 1 0 - 5
Elizabethtown ....... 3 2 2 2 - 9

King's (Pa.) SCORING: GOALS: John Booth 2; Chris Landry 2; Gary Morgan 1. ASSISTS: John Booth 1; Curtis Reinard 1.

Elizabethtown SCORING: GOALS: Aaron Weber 3; Frankie Puzzangara 3; Josh Dougherty 2; Brad Whitcomb 1. ASSISTS: Keith Staulters 2; Aaron Weber 2; Frankie Puzzangara 1; Andrew Wagner 1.

King's (Pa.) GROUND BALLS: Chad Flexon 5; Tom Cassi 4; Brendan Ireton 4; John Booth 3; John Doran 3; Chris Landry 3; Jim Hartnett 2; Ryan Lachner 2; Phil Gakos 1; Justin Kumor 1; Alan Matusiewicz 1; Curtis Reinard 1.

Elizabethtown GROUND BALLS: Frankie Puzzangara 16; Eric Peifer 7; Aaron Weber 5; Gary Senese 3; Frank Cacia 2; Josh Dougherty 2; Chris Senese 2; Andrew Wagner 2; Jeff Long 1; Chris Schuch 1; Keith Staulters 1; Brad Whitcomb 1.

SHOTS - KINGSML 19; ETOWN 55.
PENALTIES - KINGSML 0/0:00; ETOWN 3/2:30.
MAN-UP OPPORTUNITIES - KINGSML 0-3; ETOWN 0-0.
FACEOFFS - KINGSML 2-18; ETOWN 16-18.
CLEARS - KINGSML 14-24; ETOWN 16-18.  

GOALIES - KINGSML: Tom Cassi (60:00 minutes, 33 shots-24 saves, 9 GA); ETOWN: Chris Schuch (60:00, 10-5, 5).