Cusick Scores Five Goals in Win for Shoremen

CHESTERTOWN, MD -- Junior attackman Jim Cusick (Fallston, MD/Calvert Hall) scored a career-high five goals as fifth-ranked host Washington College defeated visiting McDaniel College, 14-12, in an up-tempo Centennial Conference men's lacrosse opener for both schools this afternoon on Kibler Field at Roy Kirby, Jr. Stadium. 

McDaniel (3-6 overall) held a 5-3 lead early in the second quarter before Washington (7-0) ran off three straight goals to take a 6-5 lead on a tally by senior attackman Bennett Cord (Gaithersburg, MD/Gaithersburg) with 5:32 remaining. McDaniel evened the score at 6-6 on a Zach Monzo goal with 3:13 left, but Cord scored again off an assist from sophomore attackman Stephen Luck (Catonsville, MD/Boys' Latin) 21 seconds later to give the Shoremen a 7-6 halftime advantage. Cord scored three times in the first half and Cusick scored four times in the half to account for all seven of the Shoremen's goals over the first 30 minutes.

Washington opened the third quarter on a 4-1 run to open up the biggest lead of the game at 11-7 on a goal by junior midfielder Kodie Englehart (Coronado, CA/Coronado) with 6:18 remaining in the period. The Green Terror answered by scoring three times in the span of 91 seconds, trimming the marring to 11-10 on a goal by Sean Brett off an assist from Pat Bivons with 2:13 left in the quarter. 

Washington opened the fourth-quarter scoring 1:40 into the period as Cord found senior attackman Matt Lewis (Mt. Airy, MD/Glenelg Country School) for a goal. The Shoremen then increased their lead back to three goals at 13-10 on Cusick's fifth score of the day off a feed from Cord with 6:15 to play. Pat Woglom got the Green Terror back to within two with a goal off a Jason Lawrence assist with 5:34 left and William Clary cut the lead to 13-12 with a goal with 4:13 to go. 

McDaniel had an opportunity to tie the score late, but Washington junior goalie Ted DiSalvo (Boca Raton, FL/Spanish River) made a point-blank save on Zach Monzo with 3:23 remaining. There was a flag down on the play, but the Shoremen managed to kill the entire 30-second McDaniel man advantage without the Green Terror taking a shot. Junior midfielder Hunter Nowicki (Baltimore, MD/Franklin) scored an insurance goal for the Shoremen off a ground ball following a save with 1:28 left to provide the final margin. 

Cusick and Cord (three goals, three assists) were joined by Englehart (two goals) as multiple-goal scorers for the Shoremen. Nowicki finished with one goal and three assists, while Lewis, junior attackman JD Campbell (Baltimore, MD/Mount St. Joseph), and sophomore midfielder Grant Hughes (Alexandria, VA/St. Stephen's & St. Agnes) had one goal and one assist each. 

DiSalvo made a career-high 18 saves in goal for the Shoremen. Sophomore midfielder Michael Trapp (White Plains, NY/White Plains) went 16-for-25 on face-offs with 10 ground balls, while long-stick midfielder Jonny Poe (Coronado, CA/Coronado) tallied four caused turnovers and six ground balls.

Monzo led McDaniel with three goals and one assist, while Lawrence had two goals and two assists. Clary added three goals for the Green Terror, while Bivons netted a goal and an assist. Christian Dallmus made 22 saves between the pipes for the Green Terror. 

Ninety-three shots were taken in the game as the Shoremen finished with 53 to the Green Terror's 40. Washington also held a 48-35 advantage in ground balls and won 19 of the game's 30 face-offs. 

The Shoremen return to action Wednesday with a 5:00 p.m. Centennial Conference game at Haverford.