University of Delaware Athletics
Kitchen, Blue Hens Win 11-10 Thriller in CAA Opener
3/31/2018 4:50:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
NEWARK, Del. - 20 years in the making.
That's exactly what the University of Delaware men's lacrosse team experienced after an absolute thriller on a beautiful afternoon at Delaware Stadium. For the first time since 1998, the Blue Hens toppled the Stags of Fairfield University, 11-10, in a game that featured eight ties and neither team leading by more than two goals.
“It's tough to put into words exactly how proud I am of these guys. They've worked so hard all spring for a moment like this,” head coach Ben DeLuca said. “We knew that Fairfield was a talented team that would challenge us and when you get to conference play, everything is ratcheted up another level. To be able to win that type of game and to be 1-0 in conference play is a credit to their hard work.”
Sophomore Charlie Kitchen tied a career-high with four goals on the day, including the game-winner with under four minutes to play. It was the third hat trick of the season and sixth of Kitchen's career. Senior Dean DiSimone chipped in two goals and two assists, while junior Joe Eisele was the third Blue Hen with a multi-goal game with two on the afternoon.
“We've prepared for this moment for so long. We fought to have this feeling. I'm proud of the way we fought together all game long,” Kitchen said.
Freshman Joe Lenskold was tremendous at the X, winning 14 of 25 face-offs and picking up nine ground balls, both of which were career-highs. Classmate Mark Bieda had his hand in the final two goals for the Blue Hens, scoring his first collegiate goal with 13 minutes left in the game.
Sophomore Matt DeLuca and the Blue Hens defense were huge in the second half, holding the Stags to just three goals in the second half, including just one in the fourth quarter. DeLuca finished with 10 saves on the day, his seventh double-digit save performance of the season.
“We realize that this is just one step toward our goal, but it's a big step for our team and this program. That was something we hadn't done in 20 years and we talked about that all week. We talked about how tough conference games are, but we also knew how hard we had worked for this moment,” senior captain Jackson Finigan said.
The game was back-and-forth from the start. With DiSimone scoring the first two goals of the day for the Blue Hens and tying the game up at 2-2 with 6:46 to play in the first quarter.
Fairfield would make a run late in the second quarter to take a 7-5 lead, but Kitchen got loose with less than a minute to play to make it a one-goal game at the break.
“We really challenged our guys at halftime, particularly Matt DeLuca and the defensive effort was outstanding in the second half,” Ben DeLuca said. “It really gave an opportunity to our offensive guys to take control and make clutch plays, which they did just that.”
Fairfield pushed its lead back to two goals early in the third quarter, but three straight from Delaware off the sticks of Eisele, Finigan and Kitchen gave the Blue Hens their first lead since two minutes into the contest.
The teams would trade goals before Kitchen took a great feed from Bieda and made an outstanding move to fire home his fourth goal, the eventual game-winner with 3:12 left on the clock.
Delaware's defense went to work on the other end, stifling the Stags offense for the final eight minutes to come away with the win.
The Blue Hens are back at home next weekend when they host the Minutemen of UMass in another critical CAA matchup. Game time at Delaware Stadium is set for 1 p.m.
