NEWARK, Del. - The HFU Men's Lacrosse Team led after the first, second and third quarters, but top seed Wilmington outscored the Tigers 2-4 in the fourth in a 9-10 final in a Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference (CACC) Tournament Semifinal on Wednesday afternoon.
The Wildcats tallied four of the first five goals of the final period to go ahead 8-10 with 6:27 remaining, but
Parker Smith (Dover, Del./Caesar Rodney) would cut the deficit to one just 50 seconds later.
Holy Family forced two turnovers, one of which was by
Bradley Smith (Egg Harbor Township, N.J./Egg Harbor Township), and
Adam Wickel (Louisville, Ky./Trinity) made a save to keep the deficit at one, but the Tigers could only manage one shot on target down the stretch as
Noah Simpson (Oshawa, Ontario/Henry Street) was denied with 2:05 remaining.
Individual Highlights
- Simpson was one of two players to record a hat trick as he joined Jake Feeney (Voorhees, N.J./Eastern), who netted a game-high four goals
- Wickel stopped 14 of the 24 shots he faced, while tying Frank Britsch (Feasterville, Pa./Holy Ghost Preparatory School (Moravian)) with a team-high five ground balls
- Xander Kelly (Shohola, Pa./Delaware Valley) led HFU with three caused turnovers, while Aedan Donnelly (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) and Cole Galvao (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) both had two
- Smith also had multiple points on a goal and an assist
How it Happened
- Wilmington opened the scoring just six seconds in, but Feeney scored twice in the span of less than two minutes before Simpson found the net with two seconds on the first quarter clock for a 3-2 advantage following 15 minutes of play
- The two teams alternated goals in the second before it was Simpson striking late yet again, this time four seconds ahead of the break for a 6-4 edge at the half
- The Wildcats netted twice in the span of 39 seconds 4:25 out of the break to tie the score for a fifth time at 6-6, but Simpson completed his hat trick with 2:31 left on the third quarter clock
- After Wilmington took its first lead since the first period at 7-8 with 9:37 to go, Feeney answered 50 seconds after, but the Wildcats came right back with two in a row for a two-goal cushion with 6:27 to play
