Robinson Sends Men's Lacrosse to CAA Championship

Thursday, May 2

Towson, Md.

7 PM

University of Delaware

9-4

Fairfield University

8-7

Fairfield

Delaware

Photo by: Ellie Bates

5/2/2024 10:05:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

TOWSON, Md. – Mike Robinson walked it off for the University of Delaware men's lacrosse team Thursday night as the Blue Hens survived an overtime thriller taking down Fairfield 13-12 in the CAA Championship semifinals at Johnny Unitas Stadium.

HENS HIGHLIGHTS

Robinson finished the day with a hat trick including the game-winner in overtime.
Sophomore transfer Hank D'Ambrogi recorded his first-career hat trick and then some as he tallied four goals against his former team.
JP Ward added three points on two goals and one assist.
Matt and Cam Acchione, Nick Jessen, and John McCurry all notched one goal
OJ Morris won 18 faceoffs at the X and scooped 13 ground balls

HOW IT HAPPENED

After just over five minutes of scoreless action, Fairfield got on the board at the 10:42 mark on a goal from Will Consoli to take a 1-0 lead. Under 40 seconds later, D'Ambrogi knotted the game at 1-1 with an unassisted goal at the 10:04 spot. McCurry put Delaware ahead 2-1 with 3:55 to play on an assist from JP Ward. The Stags responded with a goal from John Okupski to retie the game, but D'Ambrogi put the Hens ahead once again with 1:50 left in the first. Jessen tacked on one more to give Delaware a two-score lead to end the quarter.
In the second, the Stags responded with two straight goals to knot make it a 4-4 contest, but Robinson, Delaware's all-time goals leader, put the Hens back ahead, 5-4, with 9:26 left before the break. Like they have done all game, Fairfield answered with three straight goals to take a 7-5 lead into the break.
Cam and Matt Acchione led off a tumultuous third quarter with back-to-back goals to knot the game at 7-7 with Matt's coming just 14 seconds into the quarter. A pair of goals from All-CAA team members for Fairfield in Bryce Ford and Julian Radossich put the Stags ahead 9-7 with 10:24 to play. Ward put the Hens within one, but a Keegan Lynch goal put Fairfield back ahead by two, 10-8 with 6:22 in the third. With 1:55 left in the third, D'Ambrogi netted his third of the game to put UD within one goal entering the final quarter.
In the fourth, it continued to be a back-and-forth contest and Lynch put the Stags back up by two at the 13:37 mark. D'Ambrogi's fourth score of the game put Delaware back within one, but Ward knotted the game at 11-all with 7:30 left in regulation. The Stags found nylon with 3:46, but the hero of the night was Robinson as Delaware's all-time goals leader tied the contest with 1:08 left and sent the game into overtime, setting up his game-winner to send the Blue & Gold to the 2024 CAA Championship.

GAME NOTES

Ward extended his points streak to 50 straight games.
This was Robinson's fourth straight game with three or more goals.
Thursday's game was McCurry's ninth straight scoring at least one game.
Delaware extended its win streak over Fairfield to eight straight games.
This was Ellington's fifth straight game with 13 or more saves and ninth overall on the year.
This was Delaware's second comeback win of the year and first win when trailing after the third quarter.

UP NEXT
No. 2-seeded Delaware is set to play in the CAA Championship for the third straight year as the Blue Hens take on the No.1-seeded Towson University Tigers on Saturday, May 4. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.

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