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Still Flying High; No. 17 Eagles Defeat KSU

Feb. 24, 2007

ATLANTA, GA In a highly anticipated contest between the current top two teams in the conference, Kennesaw State made the short trip into Atlanta to take on the number 17 team in the country. Off to a solid 6-1 start, and having never beaten Eagles, the Owls were looking to mark off the first tally in Emory's 2007 loss column. With Curt Simmons (Wilmington, DE/Tantall), Robert Nugent (River Forest, IL/St. Ignatius), and Kevin Platt (Mountain Lakes, NJ/Mountain Lakes) all sitting out, it seemed as though KSU could possibly pull off the upset. Regardless, they were unsuccessful, as Emory would go on to win 10-4 and hold on to the top spot in the SELC-B standings.

Emory got on the board first when Tyler Sant (St. Louis, MO/Chaminade) scored at the 7:37 mark of the first period. Approximately two minutes later Michael Kowalczyk (River Forest, IL/Oak Park and River Forest) put the birds up 2-0 with a goal scored on a well executed isolation. With only nine seconds left in the first quarter, Kennesaw's Charles Roland would bury his first of two on the day to cut the score to 2-1.

Thanks to the stellar offensive play of David Morrison (Greenwich CT/Greenwich), the birds would go into the half up 4-1 as "DMo" would find the back of the next twice in the second quarter.

Alex Leung (Short Hills, NJ/Millburn) opened the second half scoring by finishing off a dish from David Franklin (Jericho, NY/Jericho - Drew) when EU would go up 6-1 shortly after with a rip from young gun, Adam Smith (Memphis, TN/White Station). Robert Witt of the Owls would then score to make it a 6-2 ball game, but Tyler Sant then notched his second of the game in a man-up situation with a feed from Morrison. However, Roland would score his second at the 2:17 mark, sending the game into the fourth quarter with the Eagles on top 7-3.

Emory, who demonstrated strength on the ride, patience, and crisp ball movement throughout the entire game, showcased all three to score the first goal of the final period. After forcing a turnover, Franklin would bring the ball back into the offensive zone and hit Jarrett Levy (Boca Raton, FL/St. Andrews) who found Paul Goleb (Rockville, MD/Walter Johnson) cutting open in front of the cage making the score 8-3. Robert Witt would score his second of the game within the fourth quarter, but with two man-up goals (both scored by Leung and assisted by Levy) the game would end with the big E in front by 6.

The defensive unit of Stephen Crump (Houston, TX/Lawrenceville), Evan Cropper (New York, NY/Trinity), and All American, Ryan Covert (St. Louis, MO/Chaminade) were an innate part of Emory's victory as all three played smart, aggressive, and disciplined lacrosse. All three defenders also worked very well on both sides of transition play. In addition to the veterans, also doing well on defense today was freshman walk-on, Adam Manchester (Sudbury, MA/Lincoln Sudbury). Manchester, who saw an increase in playing time due to his recent improvement, shined as he still continues to adjust to the college game.

David Laub (Pine Brook, NJ/Montville) is still on top of his game, making nine crucial saves. However, Laub was not the only star goalie for Emory today. After getting a penalty for not having his mouth piece in, Laub was required to serve the penalty himself. Without Andrew Dunn (Needham, MA/Needham) in attendance (due to illness), someone would need to step up and stand between the pipes for the duration of the penalty. Without any hesitation, Mikey Kowalczyk hopped into the goal, making two saves on two shots on goal.

"I'm really proud of these guys today," commented a happy Coach Reed. "We played 100% like a team with a game plan and did a good job executing on both ends." K-State, who spent last year as an affiliate program in the SELC is now only in it's first official MCLA season. When asked about the Owl's performance in such an early stage of their program's development, Coach Reed added, "Coach Byers has put together a very tough and talented core of players who have proved thus far that they show up to play and play hard. KSU is definitely one of the teams to watch out for, in my opinion."

Emory will now prepare to take on defending conference champ, Eckerd College. The Sunday afternoon contest will be the first on the road for the Eagles since playing UT-Chattanooga on February 4th. Although this game will be the only one for the blue and gold next weekend, the same is not to be said for the 8th ranked Tritons as they will ironically meet none other then Kennesaw in St. Petersburg on Saturday.