|
FAIRFIELD, CT - Franklin & Marshall College midfielder Jon Singer (Sr., Reisterstown, MD/Boys' Latin) scored at the 48:03 mark to ignite a three goal surge and lead the Division III South All-Stars to a 15-11 win over the Division III North All-Stars in the 62nd Annual STX/USILA North-South Classic at Sacred Heart University on Saturday afternoon. Trailing 10-9 following a goal by St. Lawrence University's Robert Russell of the North team, Singer tallied an unassisted score with 11:57 left in the fourth quarter to knot the game at 10-10. Chris Lauer of Salisbury State University scored 1:36 later for the South to give the rebels an 11-10 lead. Widener's Steve Littlewood added his second goal of the game as Ohio Wesleyan's Frank Bedford registered an assist on the goal with 8:31 to play to make it 12-10. Derek Elvin of Cortland State gave the North brief hope with a goal with 5:53 left to cut the deficit to one. Lauer scored with 1:50 left for the South to make it 13-11 and Josh Bergey of Salisbury State added his fourth goal of the game with 1:02 left to put the North away. Luke Gilbert of Whittier College added a late score for the South with a goal with just 13 seconds to play for the 15-11 final. Overall, Bergey was the star of the game with four scores, while Andy Bonasera of Roanoke College added two goals and an assist in the win. The South jumped out early in the game as Bergey and Andy Rowe of Ohio Wesleyan gave the South a 2-0 lead with goals in the first quarter. Bergey’s came just 1:30 into the contest, while Rowe scored midway through the period. Kevin Burke of Connecticut College got the North on the board with 6:35 left in the first off an assist by St. Lawrence's Russell. Michael Pape of Cabrini College and Bergey sandwiched a goal by Matt Stack of New England College to give the South 4-2 lead after one quarter. Pape notched his second goal of the game with 9:03 left in the half to give the South a 5-2 lead. Dennis Juleff of Ithaca College scored with 5:44 left to close it to 5-3, but Bonasera scored a little over a minute later to make it 6-3. Russell found the back of the net for the North with 3:05 left to close the scoring for the half, with the South leading 6-4. Both teams opened up the offense in the second half, with the goals coming fast and furious. Mark DiGiovanni of Eastern Connecticut State scored for the North just 35 seconds into the third quarter to close the gap to 6-5. Littlewood of Widener scored for the South with 11:4 left, and Brian Balash of Oneonta State answered for the North with 10:01 left in the quarter to make it 7-6 in favor of the South. Bergey ripped home his third goal of the game for the South with 8:10 left in the third quarter to give his team back the two-goal advantage, but the northerners would score the next three in the period to take a 9-8 lead into the fourth as Matthew Silverio of Hamilton College scored with 6:37 left and Chris Bivona of Skidmore College tied the game with a goal with 43 seconds left. Silverio gave the North the lead on an assist from DiGiovanni with just nine seconds left in the quarter. Bonasera knotted the game back up 1:35 into the fourth quarter with a man-up goal for the South. Russell responded for the North less than a minute later to give the North the 10-9 lead. It would be the high-water mark for the North, as the South took control with Singer's tally and scored six of the final seven goals in the game. One huge factor in the game was in the face off circle as the South won 24 of 30 to hold the North offense in check.
The game marked the final collegiate contest in Singer's career and capped a post-season of achievements for the four-year player. The 32nd player in program history to garner All-American honors, he joined attackman Bryan Nolan (Sr., Scottsdale, AZ/Western Reserve) on the 2003 STX/USILA All-America honorable mention team this year. Historically, the pair marked the third and fourth F&M players in three years to earn the award as goaltender Dave Kahn '01 and defenseman Chris Schellhorn '02 also earned honorable mention status following their senior seasons. The team's leading scorer, Singer tallied 26-30-56 while earning All-Centennial Conference first team honors this year. An NCAA Post-Graduate Scholarship candidate, pre-season honorable mention All-America selection and a 2003 Verizon Academic All-District II selection, he continued a string of success this year following back-to-back standout seasons as a sophomore and junior. A 2001 Honorable Mention and 2002 Second Team All-CC recipient, Singer led the team in goals scored in 2002 (24) and 2001 (27) to conclude his career at the College with 92-55-147. Overall, Singer's appearance in the North-South Game marked the second straight year a Diplomat participated in the contest as defenseman Chris Schellhorn '02 appeared in the 2002 game at Johns Hopkins University. Schellhorn's participation marked F&M's first inclusion since 1996 when attackmen Chris Mergadt '96, Don Gervais '96 and midfielder Jeremy Nierman '96 were named to the South team after leading the Diplomats to a 9-4 record. Historically, Singer helped lead a resurgence of men's lacrosse as the Diplomats finished the year ranked #9 in the nation and received an at-large bid to the NCAA Championship Tournament where the Diplomats advanced to the quarterfinals before being defeated by eventual national champion Salisbury University. The NCAA playoff berth marked the third in program history (1988, 1990, and 1995) as the Diplomats finished the year with a 12-4 mark for the best record since the 1988 team went 13-3 and advanced to the "Final Four". At Sacred Heart University
South 4-2-2-7 -- 15
North 2-2-5-2 -- 11 Scoring Summary:
1st Quarter
S- Josh Bergey (unassisted), 13:31
S- Andy Rowe (Kip Campbell), 7:14
N- Kevin Burke (Robert Russell), 6:35
S- Michael Pape (unassisted), 6:19
N- Matt Stack (Burke), 3:49
S- Bergey (unassisted), 2:28 2nd Quarter
S- Pape (unassisted), 9:03
N- Dennis Juleff (unassisted), 5:44
S- Andy Bonasera (Ryan Johnson), 4:04
N- Russell (Stack), 3:05 3rd Quarter
N- Mark DiGiovanni (unassisted), 14:25
S- Steve Littlewood (unassisted), 11:54
N- Brian Balash (unassisted), 10:01
S- Bergey (unassisted), 8:10
N- Matthew Silverio (unassisted), 6:37
N- Chris Bivona (Michael Frissora), 0:43
N- Silverio (DiGiovanni), 0:09 4th Quarter
S- Bonasera (unassisted), MU, 13:25
N- Russell (unassisted), 12:29
S- Jon Singer (unassisted), 11:57
S- Chris Lauer (Luke Gilbert), 10:21
S- Littlewood (Frank Bedford), 8:31
N- Derek Elvin (unassisted), 5:53
S- Lauer (unassisted), 1:50
S- Bergey (Bonasera), 1:02
S- Gilbert (unassisted), 0:13 Goalies: South- Tim McGinnis (30:00, 8 saves), Tim Morse (30:00, 10 saves);
North- Ryan Martin (20:00, 6 saves), Steve Feltman (21:37, 3 saves), Stephen Salotti (18:23, 5 saves). Shots: North - 59; South - 54
Faceoffs: North - 6-30; South - 24-30
Clears: North - 38-47; South - 32-37
Extra Man: North - 0-6; South - 1-1
|
