GREENSBORO, N.C. -- The Guilford College men's lacrosse team looked to bounce back on Wednesday, in search of Coach Marty Kelly's first win as a Quaker. It came at the perfect time, as the Quakers defeated cross-town rival Greensboro College, 10-5. GC has also bested Greensboro in ten of the past 11 matchups with this victory.
Guilford advances to 1-1 in the new year, while the Pride drop their first game, with a record of 2-1.
Making his first career start, sophomore Darius Safavi-Abbassi (Culver City, Calif.) played the duration of this fierce contest, making nine saves at a .643 save percentage. On the other side, Greensboro keeper Edward Rowley made 13 saves, but only at a saving percentage of .565.
Jax Atkins (Mechanicsville, Va.) was yet again a force on faceoffs, accounting for nine of a possible 15 chances.
Ezekiel Gravley (Morganton, N.C.) led GC in ground balls with five.
Nick Honkomp (Rolesville, N.C.) had a breakout performance with four goals, adding two ground balls. Gabe Alvarez (Cary, N.C.) was the other Quaker to score multiple goals, with two of his own.
For Greensboro, Will Beyer led his team with two goals. Justin Barry appeared on the scoreboard with a goal, an assist and one ground ball.
Up a man following a Pride penalty in the first four minutes of play, Honkomp got the game underway, with a sleek assist from Dirk Meinhart (Garfield, Ky.). Andrew Burch (Cary, N.C.) joined in on the festivities with his first score of the season, putting the home side up two with under eight minutes to play. Greensboro's second committed penalty of the stanza proved to be costly. As Gavin Brown (Charleston, S.C.) scored, on Meinhart's second assist in as many minutes. Just a minute later, Honkomp netted his second of the period, as Guilford led 4-0 heading into the second quarter.
The second quarter quieted down offensively, but the intensity between these rivals showed. Multiple shots either way kept the score as it was, until Honkomp broke the ice with his third of the contest, putting GC up 5-0 halfway through the period. The Quakers had opportunities with the clock winding down, and up a man, but could not capitalize. Despite their late chances, GC held their rivals scoreless through two.
The third beared witness to the most action-packed period of the night, with seven total penalties throughout. To start, Guilford scored their fastest goal so far this season, with Atkins taking the winning faceoff, immediately dishing the ball to Alvarez for a score in just seven seconds, 6-0. GC's penalties woes began to haunt them midway through the quarter, as the Pride's Beyer got the visitors on the board with just over 10 minutes left. Bashwyn Fitch (Charleston, S.C.) got his name on the scoring sheet with a solo effort a few minutes later, restoring the Quaker's six-goal cushion. The visitors weren't down and out quite yet, netting two quick scores following another Guilford penalty, 7-3. After Abbassi manned the goalposts and kept the Pride scoreless down the stretch, Honkomp yet again scored with a minute to play in the third, raising Guilford's lead to five.
Greensboro were a man down to begin the fourth stanza, and GC capitalized on the man advantage; Meinhart scoring the home side's ninth goal of the night in the first minute. Beyer erased that advantage with another goal for the visitors, but could not muster up much more. Capped off by Alvarez's second goal, Guilford rode to the 10-5 win.
On a busy weekend on Guilford's campus, the men's lacrosse team returns to action at Armfield Athletic Center for a Saturday contest versus Methodist University. First faceoff is set for 1:00 on February 24.
