LAKEWOOD, NJ (April 5, 2024) - The town of Lakewood has been living up to it's name with rain for seemingly every Georgian Court Men's Lacrosse home game of late. It was another wet and wild one Tuesday afternoon as the Lions took on Bridgeport. Neither team led by more than two goals at any point and in the end, it was GCU who scored last to nab the 11-10 victory.

How it Happened
• When the score is that close, usually the stats are as well. And that was the case in this one. Bridgeport held a slight advantage on faceoffs winning 13-25 and GCU 12-25.
• They also ripped off six more shots, 47-41. They put 28 on target while the Lions totaled 19 on net.
• Georgian Court had some trouble clearing the ball. They were just 23-32 with 19 total turnovers. The Purple Knights got across the timeline 19-22 times and committed 16 giveaways.
• On the ground, UB scooped 34 and GCU 33.
• Each team had just one extra-man opportunity and couldn't cash in.
First Quarter
• For the first three quarter, GCU started off strong, only to fall into a lull midway through.
• James Sanford got the Lions on the board less than 90 seconds in with a feed from Brett Bridges for 1-0 lead.
• Bridges then scored himself at the 7:53 to put the Lions up 2-0.
• That two-goal lead lasted just 21 seconds as Bridgeport got one back. They tied the game at two with a goal with 3:28 to play and that's how the first quarter ended.
Second Quarter
• GCU started the second quarter getting a goal from Sanford 33 seconds in to reclaim a one-goal lead.
• Bridges followed again and Georgian Court led 4-2 and seemed to be off and running with 13:42 to play before halftime.
• Bridgeport made it a one-goal game again, 4-3, scoring with just under 11 minutes on the clock.
• After the first 11 minutes saw three total goals, there were three more scored in the final four. Tyler Burns got the first doing the work himself and putting GCU ahead 5-3.
• The Purple Knights finished the half on a swarm scoring with 2:56 to play and tying with 1:16 left. 
• Vincent Burkhart made a save with less than a minute to play, but GCU couldn't put a ball on net and the game was tied at five heading into the half.
Third Quarter
• The Lions got out of the gates quick again to start the second half. Joe Zerr gave GCU a 6-5 lead less than a minute in.
• Just 37 seconds later, Bridges made it a hat trick and gave the Lions a 7-5 lead with 13:27 to play.
• Bridgeport finally got going midway through the quarter. They scored two to tie just 24 seconds apart with 6:25 to play in the quarter.
• After winning the faceoff, Doug Mackenzie found Matt Dorrian wide open in front of the net. He went one-on-one with the keeper and put it past him to tie the game.
• With less than a minute to play in the third, Burkhart made another big save. With the clock winding down, Mackenzie this time found Harrison Jordan who scored with just 12 seconds left to put GCU ahead 9-8 heading to the fourth.
Fourth Quarter
• After three straight quarters of scoring quickly, the Lions failed to in the fourth. Bridgeport got the tying goal less than two minutes into the frame.
• At the 9:07 mark, Bridgeport took another one-goal lead, 10-9, after a turnover at midfield led to an offensive rush and scored for the Purple Knights.
• Burkhart made another stop to give GCU possession and Jordan tied the game at 10 with 7:09 to play.
• With less than five minutes to play, Kyle Harms intercepted a pass in the defensive zone to give the Lions the ball back. Sanford did the rest scoring his third of the game and putting the Lions back on top, 11-10.
• Less than a minute to play and the Purple Knights forced a Lions turnover. They carried the ball into the offensive end and called timeout with 35 seconds to play. Following the timeout, Burkhart came up with his 18th and biggest save of the game and the Lions ran out the clock on the 11-10 win.

Lion Stat Leaders
• Vincent Burkhart had a .643 save percentage making 18 saves on 28 shots on goal.
• James Sanford led GCU totaling six points with three goals and three assists.
• Brett Bridges also had a hat trick with three goals and two assists along with three ground balls.
• Harrison Jordan scored twice.
• Doug Mackenzie dished out two assists.
• Justin Iannarone was 8-11 on faceoffs with six ground balls.
• Kyle Harms grabbed four balls on the ground.
• Vincent Burns caused two turnovers.

For the Purple Knights
• Dewey Schoenfelder, James Napoli and Matthew Levantini all scored two goals with one assist.
• Daniel Orebiyi scored twice as well.
• Aidan Kirkpatrick and Ashton Lankowski had a goal and assist each.
• Connor Cullen won 13-25 faceoffs with four ground balls.
• Sean Napoli led with six ground balls.
• Peter Nazario made eight saves in net.

News and Notes
• Max Dennington entered the Lions all-time top-three in caused turnovers.
• Brett Bridges picked up his 50th ground ball and Vincent Burns his 25th.
• James Sanford matched career-highs with three goals and six points.
• Vincent Burkhart's 18 saves are a season-high.
• That was the Lions first one-goal win since February 25, 2023 also at home, also 11-10 against The College of Saint Rose. 
• It's just their second one-goal win since the start of the 2020 season.

Up Next
• Georgian Court finishes up the week at home Saturday, April 6 as they host Dominican at noon for Senior Day.