IMMACULATA, Pa.- Joe Clark scored six points and collected his second straight hat trick, while Cody Larkin and Mike Specht added hat tricks in Elizabethtown’s program record-tying eighth consecutive win, a 17-10 drubbing of Immaculata Wednesday afternoon.
From the opening face-off it was all Blue Jays. Seven different players contributed to an eight-goal run over the first 13:16 of the opening quarter as Elizabethtown (9-2) led 9-1 heading to the second.
Mike Specht scored three of his four points on the afternoon in the first quarter with two goals and an assist. Connor Rowe also chipped in two goals and Joe Clark (1g, 1a), Kevin Meakim (1g, 1a) and Russ LeClair (1g, 2a) all had multi-point quarters.
The E-town express kept rolling in the second with Clark netting his conference-leading 24th of the year 21 seconds into the period for a 10-1 lead. Larkin found the back of the net twice more, with Clark and Mike Specht each scoring once more before the end of the half. All three players registered hat tricks in the first half, putting the Jays in front 14-2 at the break.
Immaculata would score eight of its 10 goals in the second half, but never seriously challenged Elizabethtown’s lead. Clark opened the third quarter scoring with his fourth of the afternoon at 12:15 and Jimmy Waters closed it with his sixth goal of the year 65 seconds from the horn.
Freshman Hunter Diem scored his first career goal in the final minute of the fourth.
The Blue Jays totaled a whopping 50 shots, the second time they’ve hit the half century mark in a game this season. Clark took a game-high 11, followed by Mike Specht with seven and five from brother Nick Specht.
Nine players representing the Blue and Gray had at least one goal Wednesday.
It didn’t matter if Matt Rucci or David Latimore went out to the dot, as both had tremendous success, helping E-town to a 21-10 advantage on face-offs. Rucci, a Drexel Hill native, won a career-high 13 on just 16 attempts. Latimore was 8-of-14.
Rowe led all players with nine ground balls, followed by Rucci’s six and Nick Specht‘s five.
Davis Miracle made his first start since the Susquehanna game back on March 14 and stopped one shot in 30 minutes for his second win of the season. Basle Lavery blocked five Immaculata (1-8) shots in the third and Trey Yetter had a save in taking the net for the fourth.
Doug Hughes led the Mighty Macs with four points on two goals and two assists. Tyler Black had a hat trick and backup goalie Don Schiffer made 10 saves after having his number called at the start of the second quarter.
Coach Drew Delaney‘s 2015 team tied the 2010 team as the only two in program history to win eight games in a row. The 2010 edition of the Blue Jays started their streak March 17 with a 13-5 triumph over Roger Williams and didn’t fall again until more than a month later at Eastern on April 21, 12-11, in overtime. The 2015 team hasn’t lost since Feb. 28, with current winning streak starting March 7 at Ferrum.
The Blue Jays will go for program history Saturday when they host Merchant Marine at 3 p.m.
