Jackets Sweep Home Finale
The Georgia Tech Men's Lacrosse Team hosted two home games to close out the home portion of their schedule for the season. The weekend also marked the celebration of the 50th season of lacrosse at Georgia Tech. In front of scores of alumni, the Jackets took on two historic rivals, the Florida State Seminoles and the Georgia Bulldogs, both ranked in the MCLA top 20.
The weekend started with an alumni game between former Jackets and Bulldogs. The game was well attended with both rosters full of alumni reliving their glory days in the friendly game.
Once the alumni finished, the business of the weekend began for the Jackets. The Seminoles came into the game having lost three in a row and looking to end their skid, while the Jackets entered the contest as healthy as they have been all season; all contributing to a tense showdown between two familiar foes. The Jackets and Seminoles met three times during the 2019 season with Tech earning the victory each time as well as defeating the Seminoles in 2021 creating a strong sense of familiarity between the opponents.
The Jackets got the opening possession and worked through their patterns before Pierce Quarles scored on a pass that missed its target and slipped through middle and past the Seminole keeper. Florida State had the next possession and sent multiple shots off the posts earning a shot clock reset each time and keeping the pressure on the Tech defense before breaking through to score their first goal of the season. Florida State earned their first lead of the game on the next possession. Brooks Baro found Quarles who scored again to tie the game for the Jackets shortly thereafter. From that point, the Seminoles took control of the game dominating possession and the winning the contested ground balls. The Seminoles took advantage of the possession advantage as Tech seemed to be playing tentatively failing to match the intensity of Florida State. The visitors scored two more goals within a minute of each other to take a 4-2 lead. The Jackets steadied themselves somewhat over the last few minutes of the first quarter until the Seminoles were able to corral a rebound and score on the crease as the first quarter horn sounded.
With the momentum and energy firmly in the Seminoles' favor, the Jackets had to gather themselves and prepare to dig out of the hole they created. The Jackets upped the intensity in the second quarter as the opening minute was back and forth with contested play all over the field. The Jackets got on the board again when senior Zach Schenken found a cutting Max Lucas inside for a goal. Devin Raun followed that with an unassisted goal in his return from injury leading to an eruption from the Tech sideline welcoming him back. Freshman Asher Wagnon got into the mix scoring 42 seconds later bring the Jackets even. The Jackets were now controlling the groundballs and play in the middle of the field leading to extra possessions and the Jackets did not waste their opportunities. Less than two minutes later Pierce Quarles scored again off a two man game from behind the goal giving the Jackets the lead. Just over a minute later, Devin Raun scored again. At this point, both the crowd and pep band were at full throat creating a raucous atmosphere. 35 second later Nick Witten scored the final goal of the first half drawing a slide and then taking advantage of his man falling down as the slide recovered. The 6-0 run in the second quarter gave the Jackets the 8-5 half time lead.
At halftime the Jackets were focused on continuing their second quarter play and not repeating the first quarter. The first few minutes of the third quarter was back and forth with neither team able to find the back of the net. The Seminoles switched to a zone defense in an attempt to slow down the Yellow Jacket dodgers. After a few possessions of getting a sense of the new look, Max Lucas skipped a pass from behind to Nick Witten at the point who quick-sticked a pass to Devin Raun who fired a rocket into the top corner to open the second half scoring. The goal marked Raun's 100th career goal for the Yellow Jackets. After a few more minutes of back forth play, the Seminoles found the net again breathing life back into their sideline. The momentum was short lived as freshman Aaron Piszczek won the ensuing faceoff and scored a goal of his own after outrunning the Florida State midfield. A few minutes later Pierce Quarles drew two defenders and move the ball to Brooks Baro who physically overwhelmed the rotating defender and scored on a tight angle shot. On the next possession as the Jackets were subbing, Florida State tried to pressure Wagnon while they had an extra player and Wagnon ran by the pressure all the way to the goal to score before the Jackets could get their remaining players on the field. The Jackets lead 12-6 after three quarters.
Sam Eck opened the fourth quarter scoring as Zach Schenken attached the seam in the zone and moved the ball to Eck who shot before the rotation could get there. The Seminoles answered off the ensuing faceoff and scored two more goals in close succession to bring the game to 13-9. At this point fatigue seemed to set in for both teams as the game slowed down and was scoreless for several minutes. The Jackets forced a turnover in the ride and Devin Raun found Pierce Quarles off the restart before the Seminole defense could get back in. Brooks Baro finished the scoring for the day at the Jackets got the 15-9 win paced largely by the 10-1 run across the second and third quarters. Goalie Gino Pagliaro backstopped the Jackets with 12 saves. The Tech defense steadied themselves after the first quarter and was stingy across the final three quarters. Aaron Piszczek won 17 of 26 faceoffs for the Jackets.
Saturday evening, the program inducted new members to both the Hall of Fame and the Crease Club for their contributions to the program at a well attended ceremony on campus.
It was a quick turn around as the Jackets had to move on from Florida State to prepare for Clean Old Fashioned Hate less than 24 hours later. The Jackets had the opportunity to win the SELC North Region with a win, a loss would lead a three way tie with the Bulldogs and South Carolina. On a beautiful day the sideline was packed once again. The pep band and the Ramblin' Wreck were both in attendance for the showdown. In a reversal of the day before the Jackets opened the game with intensity. Tech was able to get an early goal when Pierce Quarles threw a skip pass to Sam Eck on the backside while falling down and Eck sent the ball home to open the scoring. Devin Raun followed that goal with one of his twelve seconds later to give the Jackets a two goal lead. After forcing a failed clear, Kevin Lewis sent the ball up the offense. As the Bulldogs were still getting in, Eck threw a fifteen yard bounce pass across the defense to an open Devin Raun who once again found the back of the net. A few minutes later after some stingy defense from the Jackets, freshman Nick Eliacin worked his way past a multitude of defenders to the front of the cage and scored. Less than two minutes later, Devin Raun scored again in early offense getting under his defender and to the middle of the field before firing home another shot. The energy and momentum were firmly on the Jackets' side. However, the Jackets lost focus at the end of the first quarter allowing the Bulldogs to score twice in the last minute of the first quarter.
The Jackets' hold on the game proved to be tenuous as the lapses in focus continued early in the second quarter. The Bulldogs scored four goals over the first four minutes of the second quarter. Tech's only game of the quarter came on an extra man opportunity when Pierce Quarles found Devin Raun to tie the game at six. The Jackets had another extra man opportunity at the end of the quarter, but could not capitalize. The Bulldogs were able to score at the halftime buzzer after the Jackets tried to double to take the ball away. The Jackets would have to find their focus again after letting their five goal lead turn into a one goal deficit at halftime.
Brooks Baro opened the second half scoring on his second shot of the possession when he dodged underneath and worked his way to just enough angle to find the back of the net. Nick Eliacin scored his second goal of the day on a left handed dodge when the Bulldogs did not slide 90 second later nosing the Jackets back in front. Devin Raun dodged underneath in early offense again less than two minutes later and scored again. The Jackets scored again when Pierce Quarles found Zach Schenken on the pipe who took his time and curled up-field to increase his angle before finishing around the Georgia keeper. The next few minutes were scoreless as the Tech defense clamped down on the Georgia offense and the Bulldog goalie made some nice saves against the Jackets. Nick Witten broke through to score on an isolation before the slide could get to him. Pierce Quarles scored the next goal dodging to his write and putting the ball low and away.
The Jackets got an extra man opportunity early in the fourth quarter. Nick Eliacin took advantage of the attention drawn by Raun and was able to score inside. Shortly thereafter Pierce Quarles got to the middle of the field and scored on a low to low shot through a crowd. The Jacket defense continued to stymie the Bulldog offense until they broke through and scored their final goal of the day with 8:12 remaining in the game. Shortly thereafter Pierce Quarles got his hand free in early offense and rang a shot off the cross bar. Asher Wagnon was trailing the play and the ball bounced directly to him and he was able to carry the ball in and score before the remaining defenders could get in giving the Jackets a 15-8 lead that would be the final score. The Jackets took long possessions the rest of the game and sent multiple shots off the pipe before closing out the game on their defensive end with another stop.
The win gave the Jackets the SELC North region title for the year along with a first round bye on the conference tournament. Gino Pagliaro had 10 saves. The Yellow Jacket defense outside of the stretch spanning the end of the first and beginning of the second quarter was able to turn the Bulldogs away time and again. The defense got strong performances from Kevin Lewis, Taylor Teasley, Connor Koelsch, Charles Wronski and Hudson Higgins. Wronski returning from a gruesome injury was crucial in the clearing game for the Jackets continually making good decisions and safely getting to the ball to the Tech offense. The Tech rope unit of Will Marshall, Will Cero, Carrington Kelsey, Nathan Jackson, Cole Christensen, Curran Myers, Dylan Walters, and Tyler Smith was strong throughout the day patrolling the middle of the field and turning away the Georgia dodgers.
After the game, the Yellow Jackets honored their class of seniors playing their last game on Roe Stamps field. The seniors were Will Marshall, Tyler Smith, Zach Schenken, and Gino Pagliaro. After the ceremony, alumni, parents, current players, and coaches were able to mingle at a tailgate hosted by the parents club.
