Blue Hens Pull Past Mercer, 10-9, To Stay Perfect At Home

Wednesday, March 6

Newark, DE

2:00 PM

University of Delaware

5-1

Mercer University

0-5

Team	1	2	3	4	Final F
MERCER	4	3	1	1	9
Delaware	4	2	3	1	10

Photo by: Mark Campbell

Blue Hens Pull Past Mercer, 10-9, To Stay Perfect At Home

3/6/2019 5:00:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

NEWARK, Del. – Good teams find ways to win, even when they aren't at their best.

Wednesday afternoon at Delaware Stadium, the University of Delaware men's lacrosse program continued to display the progress of growth in the program, pulling through to defeat a feisty Mercer squad, 10-9, in brutally cold temperatures.

"We didn't play our best lacrosse today and credit goes to our opponent for pressuring us and taking advantage of that," head coach Ben DeLuca said. "That being said, I'm very proud of our team for demonstrating resiliency and overcoming adversity to grind out a win at home."

Leading the way offensively was junior Charlie Kitchen, who tied a career-high with five goals on the day to extend his goal-scoring streak to 23 straight games dating back to his freshman year. Kitchen now has 80 career goals, which moved him into the top-25 all-time in program history.

Freshman Tye Kurtz and junior Bryce Reid each had a goal and two assists on a day the Blue Hens fired off 60 shots on goal, the most since Delaware ripped off 61 against Villanova in 2016.

Defensively, Delaware allowed just two second-half goals to Mercer, forcing them in 18 turnovers, 11 of which came in the second half. Junior Matt DeLuca registered his 20^thcareer double-digit performance in 34 games with 17 saves on the day, which brought his career total to 387, which ranks 10^thall-time in program history.

"Honestly, we didn't play our brand of lacrosse, so we're disappointed in that, but when that happens, we have to dig deep and really grind to find a way to win the game and we were able to do that today," Kitchen said.

The feel for the game was established early on when the two teams trade goals in the first seven minutes and each found the back of the net four times in the first quarter.

It would stay the same in the second quarter, but Mercer got a goal in the final four minutes to take a 7-6 lead into the break.

The Bears would make it a two-score game five minutes into the third, but Kitchen fired home two beautiful goals off assists from Reid and Kurtz to tie the score at 8-8 late in the third.

Delaware would take the lead on a man-up goal from Kurtz in the final 90 seconds of the third, but less than two minutes into the fourth, Mercer would respond and tie the score once again at 9-9.

The defense would grind out possession after possession, before Kurtz found Kitchen once again for his fifth goal of the year and a 10-9 lead with just under four minutes to play.

The Blue Hens defense, which came in ranked third in the country in fewest goals allowed, clamped down and held on for the victory at home.

Up Next

Delaware completes its five-game in 14 day stretch with a visit from Binghamton on Saturday afternoon. Game time at Delaware Stadium is set for 3 p.m.