April 2, 2003
One day after Army held of a pesky Lehigh challenge to hand coach Jack Emmer the NCAA career record for coaching victories, Hobart needed to score two goals in the final four minutes to stop host Colgate, 10-8, and Bucknell held off a late charge by 18th-ranked Villanova to gain a 7-6 victory in Patriot League men's lacrosse action this week.
Bucknell (5-2) and Army (4-4), which shared the 2002 PL title with Hobart (5-3), enter Saturday's action tied for first with 2-0 PL records. The Statesmen are still in the hunt for the 2003 crown with a 3-1 League mark. Colgate (3-4, 1-1) and Lehigh (4-5, 1-2) are still trying to break into the upper half of the League standings.
Wednesday in Hamilton, N.Y., Tim Booth scored three goals, including the game-winner to break an 8-8 tie with approximately four minutes left in the match, to lift Hobart to a 10-8 win over Colgate.
Hobart got out to a quick start, scoring four unanswered goals before sophomore Jason Vasas (Fairport, N.Y.) converted a pass from junior Jeffrey Vander Meulen (Liverpool, N.Y.) with 2:58 left in the first period.
Back-to-back goals by Hobart's Kris Shore to end the first and begin the second period gave the Statesmen a 6-1 lead.
The Raiders held Hobart scoreless for the remainder of the half while senior Nick Gerken (Wilton, Conn.) and senior Scott Herbst (Short Hills, N.J.) scored unassisted goals to cut the lead to 6-3.
Senior Peter Watts (Wayland, Mass.) scored the first goal of the third period at the 14:49 mark off a pass by sophomore Adam Hershman (Holden, Mass.) but Hobart answered back one minute later to keep the three goal lead. Vasas and Watts scored the final two goals of the third quarter to pull the Raiders within one, 7-6.
Hobart's Mike Conklin scored 26 seconds into the final period to give the Statesmen an 8-6 advantage but Vander Meulen and Gerken both scored unassisted goals to bring the game to its first tie, 8-8 with 4:17 left to play.
Hobart's Tim Booth won the ensuing face off and went the distance, scoring what would prove to be the game winner from point-blank range to give the Statesmen the 9-8 lead. Thirty seconds later, Chris Scanlon sealed the 10-8 victory for Hobart on an unassisted goal.
Colgate played an all-around solid game, out shooting Hobart 43-30 and holding the advantage in groundballs with 33 to the Statesmen's 31. The Raiders also forced 36 Hobart turnovers while committing only 26. The Statesmen committed seven penalties for five minutes while Colgate was penalized four times for a total of three minutes.
Goaltending proved to be the difference as Hobart's Mike Borsz made 16 saves while freshman goalie Andrew Jarolimek (Silverthorne, Colo.) tallied nine.
At Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium in Lewisburg, Chris Cara had five assists and Patrick Christensen scored a pair of goals to lead the Bucknell men's lacrosse team to its fourth win in a row, 7-6 over 18th-ranked Villanova.
The Bison (6-2) won their second straight one-goal decision and improved to 4-0 at home this season. Villanova, the Colonial Athletic Association leader, had its three-game winning streak snapped and fell to 6-2.
Goals figured to be hard to come by in this one, as Villanova entered the game ranked first nationally in scoring defense (4.2 GAA), while Bucknell was third (6.6 GAA). Both teams lived up to their reputations early in the contest, as Villanova's Brian Marks goal at the midway point of the opening quarter was the game's only tally over the first 22 minutes.
The Wildcats took a 2-0 lead on Matt Starker's goal before Bucknell surged ahead with a 6-1 run. Christensen and Worthy Sanders tied the game with second-period goals, and the teams went to the locker rooms in 2-2 deadlock.
Brendan O'Donnell opened the second-half scoring just 1:24 into the third-period, but the Bison pocketed four in succession to open up a seemingly commanding 7-4 lead. Senior middies John Terracciano, Kelly Hogue and Andrew Copelan all scored in a span of 3:20 in the third quarter, then after Villanova picked up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty after the quarter expired, Wes Fetchet tacked on an extra-man goal just eight seconds into the fourth period.
Villanova made the Bucknell partisans nervous when Starker and Matt Lucas scored less than a minute apart, the latter coming with 3:18 left in regulation, to make it a 7-6 contest. The Wildcats won the ensuing faceoff and Bison goalie Justin Sussman made a terrific stop on Villanova's leading scorer, Marc Creegan, with 2:30 remaining.
The Wildcats had two more possessions, first turning the ball over on a bad pass with 1:08 remaining, then after Bucknell stepped out of the box, Villanova was whistled for offsides with eight seconds to play.
Sussman, who entered the game as the nation's leader in save percentage (.700), made 12 saves, while Villanova netminder Joseph Canuso made six stops. Villanova had a 26-19 shot advantage and won 10 of 16 faceoffs.
Cara assisted on five of Bucknell's first six goals, marking the second time this season he tallied five assists in a game. Christensen had his second multi-goal game of the year, while Copelan had a two-point night with a goal and an assist.
Tuesday night at Shea Stadium at West Point, N.Y., Army lacrosse coach Jack Emmer made history Tuesday night with a 17-14 victory over visiting Lehigh. With the win, Emmer surpassed former Massachusetts head coach Dick Garber to become the all-time winningest lacrosse coach at the Division I level in NCAA history. The Black Knights' victory over the Mountain Hawks was No. 301 in Emmer's 34-year coaching career.
Army exploded for 11 goals in the first half and held on to defeat visiting Lehigh, 17-14, in a cold drizzle that left playing conditions slick at Shea Stadium Tuesday evening.
Army scored three of the game's last four tallies to break open a one-goal contest in the final 10 minutes of action. The Black Knights had opened up as much as a five-goal lead early in the second half, but Lehigh picked away at the deficit and crawled back into the tilt.
Army's John Ryan registered a career-high five goals and Jeff Bryan chipped in with a personal-best five assists to pace the hosts' attack. Bryan has accounted for 16 points in three games against Lehigh in his career. The Black Knights kept pace with Bucknell, improving to 2-0 in conference play.
Ryan, who was credited with 12 ground balls in the contest, ended a 5-1 run by the Mountain Hawks with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter that restored a two-goal advantage and breathed new life into his teammates. After Lehigh's Tony Lowe brought the visitors back to within one, the Black Knights scored three of the final four goals of the game to seal the deal on Emmer's momentous occasion. Andy Mounce's first goal of the season at 8:48 started things off, while also serving as the game-winner.
The Black Knights took control of the league tilt during a spurt late in the first quarter that spilled over into the second and lasted the rest of the half. Goals by Ryan and John Walker eight seconds apart at the end of the first quarter evened things up for Army at 5-5. The Black Knights continued that scoring spree by netting six of the game's next seven markers to jump out to an 11-6 lead. Chris Woods registered two of his three goals on the night during that run, and defensive midfielder Mike Kamon rippled the net for the third consecutive game as well.
Senior goalkeeper Scott Alpaugh made seven saves in his 2003 debut. The Rochester, N.Y., missed the first seven games of the season with an off-season leg injury. Tom Ellis registered 14 saves in the cage for Lehigh.
Army put an end to its three-game losing streak, scoring the most goals in a game since it trounced Holy Cross, 18-3, on March 10, 2001. Jim Wagner scored twice and added two assists and Walker finished with two unassisted tallies and a helper on Mounce's game-winner for the Black Knights.