College Crosse Roundup: Vermont uses five goal second quarter to double up on Furman

One game down, many more to go in the 2018 college lacrosse regular season.

Although the Furman Paladins jumped out to an early lead, the Vermont Catamounts won the marathon.

Below is today’s Big Board with all of today’s results, box scores, and winning team recaps. Clicking on any box score will take you to that game’s box score. Clicking on the recap cell will take you to that team’s recap.

Recap

The Paladins got things started 11 seconds into the game, thanks to the first of David Williamson’s four goals for Furman. The camera angle wasn’t good, but the goal is the only thing that matters here:

But then the Catamounts began with a new face dominating on attack in Liam Limoges. The freshman from Toronto recorded three goals and one assist in his collegiate debut, all of which came in the first half. Two of his goals came in a five-goal second quarter for the Catamounts. Vermont held Furman scoreless for 20:12 of game time, led by James Leary and his three caused turnovers.

Limoges then gave way to senior midfielder Ian MacKay with 18 seconds left for his first goal in nearly two years of action. MacKay later scored three more goals in the fourth quarter to help stop of possible Paladin rally.

Williamson scored the only two goals of the third quarter for either team, and added a late goal with 17 seconds left in the game. Other than Williamson, Furman’s offense was ineffective. William Holcomb recorded an assist on seven shots, Lou Yovino had three shots, and Jonah Moore had an assist on two shots.

Vermont dominated in nearly every facet of the game, including at the face-off X. Charlie Erdmann went 11-of-16 against the Catamounts, including 8-of-11 in the first half. On the other end, Furman’s Sage Rieth went 4-of-17 on the night in his first career collegiate game.

Nick Washuta stood tall in goal, stopping six shots and gave up half the amount of goals that Alec Van de Bovenkamp let by.

One note: Ben French did not play for the Catamounts.

Three Stars of the Night

Taking a hockey tradition and using it for lacrosse, because why not.

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ - Charlie Erdmann, FOGO, Vermont: The sophomore built on last year’s 53.8% face-off winning percentage by going 11-of-16 (68.7%) in his first game of the season. Extra possessions can be very important, and he dominated in the second quarter, going 4-of-5 during Vermont’s big 15 minute frame.

⭐️⭐️ - Ian MacKay, M, Vermont: MacKay played like he never got hurt. It took a little time for him to get hot, but he ended up with four goals on the night, tied for a game-high. He played an important role in the Catamounts running away from the Paladins in the fourth quarter.

⭐️ - Liam Limoges, A, Vermont: Welcome to the college lacrosse stage, Liam. He’s my player of the night. It’s not easy in your first career college lacrosse game (and start) to score a hat-trick in the first half, as well as pick up an assist and your team’s only man-up goal. The kid definitely deserves praise for his performance, and I hope it continues for the entire season.