Trojan stickmen roll past Belmont Abbey

By Allen Etzler
Published in Sports on April 5, 2014 11:47 PM

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MOUNT OLIVE -- Mount Olive lacrosse head coach Michael Murphy knew that Belmont Abbey intended to pay extra attention to the nation's best goal-scoring duo -- Matt and Dan Shields.

He didn't mind one bit.

Murphy insisted his other players push forward and take advantage of the offensive opportunities. The midfielders and offensive role players took advantage of the space the Crusaders gave them and scored 13 goals in the Trojans' 15-8 win on senior day at Amon Field.

Eleven different UMO players scored at least one goal.

"My guy was locking me off in the crease," said Matt Shields, who finished one goal and one assist. "So it was easier for (the midfielders) to get open up top when my guy is meant (to help defensively) but isn't."

Mount Olive started hot and tallied four consecutive goals in the opening 10 minutes. But Belmont Abbey settled down defensively and pulled to within 6-4 at halftime.

That's when the Trojans offense put its foot on the gas pedal.

They outscored the Crusaders 6-1 in the third quarter and cruised to the finish line. Cameron Walsh led the attack with four points on two goals and two assists.

Dan Shields (one goal, two assists), Alex Tindall (two goals, one assist) and Spencer Gelinas (two goals, one assist) each added three points in the Conference Carolinas win.

The Trojans' key to the second half was possession. Sophomore Tyler Feniello won 20 of 25 faceoffs, which allowed Mount Olive to keep the ball on its attacking side for much of the second half.

Goal keeper Ross "Rocky" Bowman protected the net in the second half, which allowed the Trojans to break out of their defensive zone and push the ball up the field. Bowman took a big risk leaving his crease to try to intercept a pass in the second half, but ran back and made a diving stop on what Crusaders midfielder Joey McGinley thought was a sure goal.

Bowman finished with 13 saves.

"I haven't seen Rocky make those kind of plays coming out of the net like that," midfielder Jake Hancock said. "The kid is unbelievable, he stands on his head for us every game. I like him taking those risks a little bit."

The win had extra meaning for the Trojans. The Crusaders won last year's regular-season meeting 11-10 and kept UMO out of the conference tournament.

"We knew coming into this that we owed them one from last year," Dan Shields said. "But we knew if we played hard and played the way we have been that we should come out on top."