Rosemont, Pa. – Coming into tonight's game, one would be expected to see the Gwynedd Mercy Griffins, with a record of 8-4, to have no trouble with Rosemont, who entered tonight's game with a 3-8 record. Although the Ravens did ultimately lose tonight's conference game against Gwynedd Mercy by a score of 16-9, the Ravens showed some stretches of excellent play and pushed the Griffins hard during the contest.
With the result, Gwynedd Mercy improved to 9-4 (3-2 CSAC) and the Ravens dropped to 3-9 (2-3 CSAC).
In a low-scoring first quarter, the Ravens jumped into the lead first when Stephen Licata scored with 9:55 on the clock. Gwynedd's Tony McCraw would knot the score at 1-1 with 5:37 on the scoreboard, and no further goals would be scored in the period.
The offenses opened up in the second, started with a goal from Justin Regan, to put Rosemont up 2-1. But Gwynedd Mercy would take control over the remainder of the quarter, scoring the final five goals in the stanza to grab a 6-2 lead going into halftime.
Ralph Ibezim opened the scoring in the 3rd, scoring with 12:51 on the clock to make the score 6-3. Two goals from the Griffins put the visitors back up by five, 8-3 when Stephen Licata struck on a pass from Ralph Ibezim to make the score 8-4. The rest of the quarter would prove to be decisive as the Griffins scored the next three straight to go up 11-4 before Ibezim scored with 2:48 on the clock.
Gwynedd Mercy opened the fourth quarter with five straight scores to put the game away, leading 16-5 with 6:50 left. The game got a bit chippy from that point, and the Ravens took advantage, with Ibezim, Licata and Regan scoring three straight man-up goals in the final three minutes to end the scoring.
Stephen Licata led the Ravens on offense with four goals and an assist. Ralph Ibezim had three goals and an assist. Justin Regan scored twice tonight, giving him a total of 95 points for his collegiate career.
Zach Bowe was again strong in the middle for Rosemont, winning 11 of 15 faceoffs and gathering 10 ground balls. Dean Grisoff had five ground balls and Anthony Bottoms had 4 GBs.
The Ravens next play on Saturday night (7:00pm), 4/18 against the Centenary Cyclones in a CSAC contest. It will be Senior Night for the men's lacrosse team.
