Box Score 
Freshman Matthew Jarzynski had four ground balls and a caused turnover
in Augustana's 9-2 loss to Elmhurst at Thorson-Lucken Field Saturday.
ROCK ISLAND, Ill. – Augustana and Elmhurst waited out a nearly three-and-a-half hour lightning delay Saturday, with the visiting Bluejays eventually notching a 9-2 victory at Thorson-Lucken Field. The win lifts the Bluejays (8-8 overall and 4-2 in the conference) into third place in the final CCIW standings, while the Vikings (7-10, 3-3) finished fourth. Coach
Dan Torie's club will be at top-seeded Carthage on Wednesday, May 3 to open CCIW Tournament play.
Mac Harden's unassisted goal with 11:35 left in the first put Elmhurst on top. Matt Westhaver made it 2-0 two minutes later, getting an assist from Dan O'Connell.
Ty Funderburk scored less than two minutes into the second period to make it 3-0 and at the 12:32 mark of the second quarter, O'Connell parlayed a Harden assist into a goal and a 4-0 Bluejay lead.
As the teams lined up for the ensuing faceoff, lightning struck, necessitating a minimum 30-minute delay. Subsequent strikes continued to push back re-start time until the decision was made to wait until 5:30 p.m. The contest actually restarted at 5:50 p.m.—a delay of three hours and 23 minutes.
The pace slowed when play resumed, with the teams going more than 12 minutes without a goal. However, with 31 seconds left in the half, Westhaver scored off a Dan Curley assist to send the Buejays to a truncated halftime break with a 5-0 lead.
O'Connell scored with six minutes left in the third to make it 6-0 before high school teammates
Nick Gallo (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) and
Sam Daly (Maine South HS, Park Ridge, Ill.) teamed up to get the Vikings on the board. Gallo assisted as Daly tallied his 16th goal of the season.
Daly assisted on a
John Danko (Lockport HS, Lockport, Ill.) goal with 10:27 remaining to pull Augustana to within 6-2, but Elmhurst scored the final three goals in the last five minutes of the contest. Jake Combron, Mac Harden each found the net and Westhaver finished off the day's scoring with 38 seconds left.
The Bluejays finished with narrow advantages in shots (32-31), ground balls (32-26) and faceoffs won (8-7). Elmhurst was 18 of 21 (.857) on clears, while Augustana finished 15-20 (.750) and the Vikings turned it over 17 times to 18 for the visitors.
Jeremiah Heredia (Warren HS, Gurnee, Ill.) came off the bench to play 40 minutes in goal. He allowed five scores and made 11 saves.
Jake Ellis (Neuqua Valley HS, Naperville, Ill.) got the start and suffered his first loss after two wins.
