Lacrosse: Madison Boys Beat Stone Bridge

The Madison boys’ lacrosse team  used a six-goal third period to slip away from Stone Bridge and then hung on to win 15-12 in a Liberty District matchup on Monday night.

Junior attackman Nick Gabriel led Madison (9-4) in scoring with five goals and Junior Kyle Rowe was dominant again on face-offs winning 20 of 23.

Madison opened the scoring in a back and forth first period with an unassisted goal at 11:05 from junior midfielder Ian Cooke. Stone Bridge (6-5) answered with an unassisted goal from senior midfielder Matt Vincent. Madison responded with a goal from senior midfielder Connor Strock at 8:06 and junior attackman Dylan Maltz answered for Stone Bridge at 6:22. The next two goals were scored by Stone Bridge’s Vincent, the first assisted by Maltz and the second by senior attackman Anthony Giachinta.Madison closed out the first period scoring with a goal from Gabriel assisted by junior midfielder Matt Arndt. The first period ended with the score tied at 4-4.

The back and forth scoring continued in the second period. Stone Bridge opened with goals from Giachinta at 9:19 and Vincent at 7:26. Madison answered with goals from junior attackman Kyle Mancini at 7:21, another by Rowe at 7:16 and another from Mancini at 5:06. Stone Bridge closed out the second period with a goal from freshman attackman Gus Capace at 1:04 remaining in the period. The score was knotted at 7-7 at halftime.

After the break Madison broke the game open with six goals in the period. Gabriel opened the scoring at 9:52 assisted by Arndt. Next, sophomore attackman Brett Simeck scored at 8:04 with an assist from Rowe. Madison closed out the period with unassisted goals from Strock, Gabriel (2) and Rowe. The period ended with Madison leading by a score of 13-7.

The fourth period scoring opened with a Madison goal from Arndt at 11:08. Stone Bridge responded with unassisted goals from Giachinta at 8:42 and two from Maltz at 3:22 and 2:41. As the game went under two minutes, Madison looked to kill the clock. But Stone Bridge caused Madison to turn over the ball and Giachinta scored with an assist from Maltz with 1:02 remaining. After winning the ensuing faceoff, Madison was once again forced into a turnover and Capace scored for Stone Bridge with :02 remaining in the game. Madison won the final face off and the game ended with the score Madison 15 and Stone Bridge 12.

Junior goalie Matt Hayden was credited with 4 saves in the third and fourth periods. Brett Simeck led the Warhawks with 4 ground balls. The Madison defense was led by juniors Nick Hoy and Nate Mancini and Sophomores Ben Headley and Brendan Lyons.

Madison’s next game will be Wednesday night at home against Thomas Jefferson in a game that will decide the final seeding for the Liberty District Tournament.

Dave Paddock contributed reporting to this story.