Men’s Lacrosse: No. 3 CCBC Essex Downs CCBC Catonsville

ROSEDALE, Md. – CCBC Essex men's lacrosse last Wednesday defeated CCBC Catonsville 24-4, in what was Essex's first game at its home stadium this season.

The game was close early in the first quarter.

Freshman attackman Brendan Nolan (Fallston) opened the scoring with a goal for the Knights 1:04 into the contest. Freshman attackman Will Manganiello (Penncrest, Pa.) scored almost three minutes later to give the Knights a 2-0 lead.

At 4:51 into the first, Cardinals sophomore midfielder Ben Holback (Beth Tfiloh) tallied his team's first goal. Just 20 seconds later, Holback scored again to tie the score.

The Knights (3-0, 0-0) ended the first on a 5-0 run.

Sophomore attackmen Julian Jackson (Wilson, Pa.) and Dylan Bruce (Sehome-Bellingham, Wash.), sophomore midfielders Parker Jones (Bel Air) and Ben Linkous (St. Paul's School) and Manganiello all scored over a 5:44 span.

Bruce's goal came on a man up advantage at 10:10 in the period. A mere eight seconds later, Linkous scored.

The Knights never looked back, scoring eight of the final nine goals of the half.

Holback picked up his third goal 5:02 into the second. A rare Cardinals' highlight, he scored behind his back as he was falling to the ground.  

At halftime, Essex led Catonsville 10-3. The Knights slammed the door shut in the third, outscoring the Cardinals 8-0.

The final period was much of the same, as Essex put six more into the back of the cage.

Freshman midfielder Cole Rainier (The Calverton School) had a five-point day, scoring once and assisting on four.

"Opening the ball up in the open set and getting the ball moving," Rainier said when asked about the offensive game plan that led to the barrage of goals.

While the offense put 24 goals on the board, it was the defense that Manganiello spoke about in his postgame interview.

"We can always rely on our defense," Manganiello said. "Even if our offense isn't playing well, we can rely on our defense and goalies."

All four of the Knights' goalies saw action in the one-sided victory.

Freshman Max Edelmann (Middletown) started and made three saves.  Freshmen Colin May (Archbishop Curley) and Mike Pomponio (St. Mary's) combined to make three saves and sophomore Ross Dinan (Geneva, N.Y.) had three saves as well.

Freshman attackman Brodie Stewart (Eastview Secondary, Ontario) led the Knights with five goals and finished with two assists.

Manganiello was close behind with four goals, Nolan had three goals and two assists, while freshman midfielder Joe Creaghan (Bel Air) and Bruce netted two goals each.

"I think it was a good night," said Knights head coach Shawn Burke. "We had a tough game [four days ago] at Genesee and we were able to play a lot more guys tonight. We tell them that it's not garbage time, it's a great opportunity for them. When we go back and evaluate [game film] we might say 'hey, here's a kid we need to play more in big games.' I think tonight we had some guys take advantage of their opportunities and hopefully they'll continue to do that."

Click here for game highlights and clips.