Rickels scores three to lead McDaniel to 9-6 win over Franklin & Marshall

WESTMINSTER, Md. – DJ Rickels (Forest Hill, Md./Boys Latin School of Maryland) scored three goals to lead McDaniel to a 9-6 victory over Franklin & Marshall in Centennial Conference (CC) men's lacrosse action on Saturday.

JS Duke (Fort Washington, Pa./Upper Dublin) recorded his first two-goal game of the season for the Green Terror (4-6, 1-3 CC), who notched its first conference win of the season and, in the process, drew within a game of fourth place in the tightly-packed conference standings.

James Wenk led the Diplomats (7-3, 2-2 CC) with two goals.

Knotted at 6-all when Wenk finished a Billy Kempner feed with 12:19 to play in the fourth quarter, Ben Yancheski (Phoenix, Md./Dulaney) scored in a man-up situation off a Duke assist to spark a game-ending three-goal run by McDaniel with 8:03 showing.

Jed Barnes (Severna Park, Md./Severna Park) picked off a Franklin & Marshall pass in the defensive end and sprinted up field, finding Nick DiBernardo (Towson, Md./Calvert Hall) for a two-goal edge with 6:57 on the clock.

Michael Young (Pylesville, Md./North Harford) hit Duke to set the final margin with 1:31 on the clock.

Kempner staked the Diplomats to a 1-0 lead in the game's first 2:47 but Rickels responded with back-to-back tallied 34 seconds apart and McDaniel never trailed after that.

Rickels finished a solo run with 8:37 on the clock before causing a delay when his shot when through a hole in the lower right corner of the net off a pass from Yancheski with 8:03 to play in the first quarter.

Skippy Clary (Baltimore, Md./Catonsville) made it a 3-1 lead after one quarter, tallying with 5:39 showing.

Wenk and Matt Gillen evened the game with solo runs before Duke gave the Green Terror a 4-3 edge at the break.

Colin McKew knotted the game with 9:40 to play in the third quarter before Rickels and Young went-back-to-back 1:12 apart to make it a 6-4 game with 4:25 showing in the period.

Sean Kenny capped a run of eight combined unassisted goals to draw the visitors within one with 2:05 to play in the third.

Matt Dean (Glen Burnie, Md./St. Vincent Pallotti) won 11 of 19 faceoffs for McDaniel. Matt Mummert (Dillsburg, Md./Northern) and Nelson Hannahs (Baldwin, Md./Fallston) led the defense with five ground balls each.

Christian Dallmus (Acton, Mass./Rivers School) made eight saves in net for the Green Terror.

McDaniel returns to action at home against Swarthmore on Wednesday. Game time is 7 p.m.

Score by Period                                 1          2          3          4          -           F
Franklin & Marshall (7-3, 2-2 CC)       1          2          2          1          -           6
McDaniel (4-6, 1-3 CC)                                   3          1          2          3          -           9

Goals
Franklin & Marshall: James Wenk 2, Billy Kempner, Matt Gillen, Colin McKew, Sean Kenny.
McDaniel: DJ Rickels 3, JS Duke 2, Michael Young, Ben Yancheski, Skippy Clary, Nick DiBernardo.

Assists
Franklin & Marshall: Gillan, Kempner.
McDaniel: Duke, Yancheski, Young, Jed Barnes.

Goalies: F (Cameron Setian – 6 saves, 9 GA), M (Christian Dallmus – 8 saves, 6 GA).

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