Box Score Clearwater, Fla. – Four different Clark University players scored three goals or more and the high-scoring Cougars improved to 4-0 for the first time in school history with a resounding 21-5 win over Cazenovia College in non-league lacrosse action on a breezy night at Philip Jones Stadium.
The victory for the Scarlet and White marks their third consecutive perfect record on their annual sojourn to the Sunshine State and beginning with their first trip in 2012, Clark is now 8-2 all-time in Florida.
Unlike Tuesday's contest against DeSales where they needed double overtime to secure the win, tonight's triumph over the Wildcats (0-2) saw the Cougars pounce early, racing out to a 4-0 lead.
First Nick Johnson (Amherst, Mass.) fired one past Cazenovia netminder Alex Delevan, and then Isaac Bass (Amherst, Mass.) added another a few minutes later and Clark was on its way.
The period continued with Johnson scoring again and then he fed Brandon King (Eastham, Mass.) for a man-up marker and his first collegiate tally.
Cazenovia scored before the quarter ended and after Will Mandracchia (Melrose, Mass.) finished off of a Rishi Singh (Sterling, Mass.) assist, they were on the board again, getting to within three at 5-2.
That would be as close as the Wildcats would get, however, as Clark went on to score ten straight goals in the second and third to put the game away.
It all began with Ryan Moore (West Hartford, Conn.) setting up Rob Holden (East Longmeadow, Mass.) with a little under nine minutes left in the first half and continued with two in a row from Johnson and one from Mandracchia before Moore literally beat the second quarter buzzer, sending a rocket into the back of the net as time expired in the first half.
The Cougar offense kept clicking, controlling possession in the third quarter as they outscored Cazenovia 5-0 in the frame. Mandracchia got the scoring going again with his third of the game 20 seconds into the period off of an assist from Ryan MacNeil (Weymouth, Mass.). King then deposited three straight – including a man-up tally and two from Mandracchia to give him four for the night.
Meanwhile, Mandracchia, put the cap on a highlight-reel type night with his unassisted score in the waning moments of the third, giving the Cougars a 15-2 edge and himself a four-goal, four-assist night.
The Wildcats did score the first two goals of the fourth quarter before Moore tacked on another and Lucas Petricone-Berg (Nyack, N.Y.) registered a natural hat trick with three straight goals – the first unassisted, the next one with help from Kyle Elkins (Stow, Mass.) and the other off of a pass from Tyler Sullivan (Brunswick, Maine).
Shea Adams got on the board for Cazenovia with under three minutes to go and then Clark registered a pair of man-down scores from Sullivan and Elkins to wrap up their third game with 20 goals or more in the past two seasons.
Clark controlled all phases of the game, holding a 46-30 edge in shots, a 44-27 advantage in groundballs and Alex Turgeon (Paxton, Mass.) was strong at the faceoff "X", winning 18 of 29.
The Cougars' special teams were excellent as well, going 3-for-6 on extra-man opportunities and holding the Wildcats to 1-for-6 when they had the man advantage.
As mentioned, Johnson, King and Mandracchia all had four goals, while Petricone-Berg recorded three and Moore had two goals and an assist.
Kyle Kingsley finished with a goal and two assist for Cazenovia.
Clark will look to extend its winning streak to six games when they play host to Salve Regina – a team that defeated them 7-6 in triple overtime a season ago. That contest is slated for Wednesday at 7:00 p.m.