Minutemen face Penn State, Saturday at 12 Noon. 

March 23, 2009

After the big 8-6 win at then-No. 12 Loyola, the UMass men’s lacrosse team has risen to No. 14 in the USILA Coaches Poll. The Minutemen are also No. 14 in the Inside Lacrosse Media Poll. Catch the Minutemen this Saturday at 12 Noon as UMass hosts Penn State in an ECAC clash.

The Minutemen have been ranked for five of the last six weeks. No. 14 is the second-highest of the season, as UMass was No. 13 the week of March 9.

The Minutemen continue take on one of the toughest schedules in the nation as seven opponents are ranked in this week’s USILA Poll: No. 2 Syracuse, No. 6 Hofstra, No. 11 Harvard, No. 13 Brown, No. 15 Loyola, No. 17 Hobart and No. 20 Albany. Also St. John’s, Georgetown and Fairfield are listed in “Others Receiving Votes.”

From the Inside Lacrosse Poll, the same seven opponents are ranked: No. 2 Syracuse, No. 8 Hofstra, No. 11 Brown, No. 13 Harvard, No. 15 Loyola, No. 18 Albany and No. 19 Hobart. Similarly Georgetown, St. John’s and Fairfield are in “Others Receiving Votes.”

Boland’s Six-Goal, Eight-Point Effort Fuels Furious Second-Half Comeback That Falls Just Short

BALTIMORE, MD - Two years ago, the Virginia men’s lacrosse team came to Homewood Field and slipped past host Johns Hopkins 7-5. On Saturday night in front of a crowd of 5,475, the Cavaliers outscored the Blue Jays 7-5 – in the first quarter; and then the game got interesting. When it was all said and done, top-ranked Virginia escaped Homewood Field with a 16-15 victory that included a 7-1 run by the Cavaliers, a 6-1 run by the Blue Jays, and a frantic final two minutes.

Virginia’s Garrett Billings scored all four of his goals and added an assist during the 7-1 Virginia run that turned a 5-5 tie late in the first quarter into a 12-6 lead late in the second. Freshman Steele Stanwick ignited the spree with back-to-back goals in a 33-second span late in the first quarter, the second coming with just four seconds remaining in the period when he took a cross-field pass from Shamel Bratton in a scramble situation and scored from a ridiculous angle.

Chris Boland scored a career-high six goals and a totaled a personal-best eight points in a 16-15 loss to top-ranked Virginia Saturday night.

Billings scored twice in the first 69 seconds of the second quarter to make it 9-5, before a Chris Boland goal for Johns Hopkins temporarily halted the run. Max Pomper added a goal 10 seconds after Boland’s tally after the Blue Jays lost the ensuing faceoff on a procedure call and Billings fired home two more goals over the next six-and-half minutes to give the Cavaliers what most in the crowd probably throught was a comfortable 12-6 lead with just over three minutes remaining in the first half.

The Blue Jays sliced the deficit to 12-8 before the half as senior Brian Christopher dodged from behind the goal and side-armed a shot past Adam Ghitelman and Boland worked from behind the goal and beat Ghitelman while falling to the ground with 1:09 left in the opening 30 minutes.

With the Cavaliers scoring 12 times on just 22 first-half shots and senior Chad Gaudet having his way on faceoffs in the first half (Virginia won 17-of-21 before intermission), few in the crowd saw Hopkins’ third-quarter explosion coming, but what was once a six-goal deficit turned into a one-goal Blue Jay lead in a stunning 15 minutes.

Kyle Wharton swept in from the side and whipped a 12-yarder past Ghitelman less than a minute into the third quarter and an extra-man goal by Christopher followed 80 seconds later. The Blue Jays drew within one with just over 11 minutes remaining in the third quarter when junior Michael Kimmel found Steven Boyle in front and Boyle slipped home a five-yard shot from his knees to make it 12-11.

An unassisted goal by John Haldy, who used stutter step on an alley dodge to create separation from his defender and then beat JHU goalie Michael Gvozden low to the far post, gave the Cavaliers a two-goal advantage midway through the quarter, but the Blue Jays scored four times in the final 3:25 with only a Steven Giannone goal for Virginia mixed in during that time to give Hopkins an improbable 15-14 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Boland ignited the quarter-ending run for the Blue Jays when he scooped up a loose ball in front of the goal and shoveled a shot past a defenseless Ghitelmen from four yards out with 3:25 on the clock. Giannone’s goal game 56 seconds later as Billings worked through a pick behind the goal and slipped a pass to Giannone on the crease and he easily beat Gvozden from the doorstep.

After fighting their way back for the first 14 minutes of the third quarter, the Blue Jays needed just 40 seconds to turn a 14-12 deficit into a 15-14 lead.

Senior Mark Bryan dodged from behind the goal, beat his defender just behind the goal line and a slide never came as he walked in front and fired home his third goal of the season. Boland completed his six-goal effort on the ensuing faceoff as Matt Dolente cleanly won the faceoff and found Boland on the crease, where he turned and fired home the game-tying goal. When Christopher polished off his four-goal effort with seven seconds remaining in the period, the Blue Jays had come all the way back to take the 15-14 lead. If only the game was 45 minutes long.

Virginia isn’t 10-0 by accident and the Cavaliers needed just under five minutes, 4:59 to be exact, to take the lead back for good. After the teams combined to score between eight and 12 goals in each of the first three quarters, only two shots found the back of the net in the fourth quarter and both were by Virginia.

Billings found Bratton 10 yards in front and Bratton had time and room to fire his second goal of the game into the far corner and Glading gave Virginia the 16-15 lead with 10:01 remaining when Billings again found the right man as Glading had time and room to step and fire home his second of the night.

While the scoring was down in the fourth quarter, the pace was frantic. Hopkins fired five shots at Ghitelman and he came up with three point-blank saves to protect the lead. Both teams turned the ball over seven times in the period, including two by Johns Hopkins in the Virginia zone in the final 1:50. When Boyle’s pass in front in the final seconds failed to connect the loose ball rolled harmlessly towards the edge of the restraining line as time expired.

The frantic finish was fitting for a game that saw 12 first-quarter goals on 19 shots. Five different Cavaliers found the net in the first 7:37, but Hopkins stood toe-to-toe with the consensus number-one ranked team in the nation as Boland got his night started with a pair of first-quarter goals and Boyle and Wharton scored back-to-back goals to turn a 5-3 deficit into a 5-5 tie with 2:30 remaining in the opening period.

Wharton’s goal set the stage for Stanwick’s two first-quarter tallies that gave Virginia the 7-5 lead that quickly swelled to 12-6. As it turned out, the excitement was just getting started when the first quarter ended.

In a game full of offensive stars, Billings led Virginia with eight points on four goals and four assists. Glading added the two goals and three assists, Bratton had two goals and two assists and Stanwick added a hat trick for the Cavaliers, who outshot the Blue Jays, 42-31, won the ground ball war, 40-25, and took 22-of-34 faceoffs. Ghitelman posted nine saves, including the three crucial fourth-quarter stops as Virginia held the Blue Jays scoreless in the final 15 minutes. The scoreless quarter was the first for Johns Hopkins since the first quarter of the game vs. North Carolina last season – a streak of 66 straight quarters with at least one goal.

Boland’s six goals and eight points were both career highs. In fact, he entered the game with career totals of six goals and six assists. His eight points are the most by a Johns Hopkins player since Kyle Barrie had nine against Navy on March 19, 2003. Christopher doubled his previous career-high for goals in a game with four and his five-point showing was also a personal best. Wharton (2g, 1a) and Boyle (2g) also had multi-point games for the Blue Jays, who had won five of their previous six games against teams ranked number one in the nation at the time of the game.

#1 Virginia (10-0) 7-5-2-2/16
< #9 Johns Hopkins (3-3) 5-3-7-0/15

Goals: V: Billlings-4, Stanwick-3, Glading-2, S. Bratton-2, Giannone-2, Carroll, Pomper, Haldy. J: Boland-6, Christopher-4, Whrton-2, Boyle-2, Bryan. Assists: V: Billings-4, Glading-3, S. Bratton-2, Carroll-2, Giannone, Huguely. J: Boland-2, Kimmel-2, Christopher, Dolente, Spaulding, Wharton. Saves: V: Ghitelman-9. J: Gvozden-8. Shots: V-42. J-31. EMO: V: 0-for-1. J: 2-for-3. Attendance: 5,475.

- 30 -

DU Men’s Lacrosse Downs Stony Brook 17-12
No. 18 Pioneers erase a three-goal deficit in the third quarter to defeat the Seawolves

DENVER – The No. 18 University of Denver men’s lacrosse team (5-3) defeated the visiting Stony Brook Seawolves (4-3) 17-12 on Saturday afternoon at the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium.

The win snaps a four-game winning streak by the Seawolves and puts the Pioneers back into the win column.

Freshman Alex Gajic (Burnaby, British Columbia) led the Pioneers with five goals on nine shots, while senior Joey Murray (Denver, Colo.) added three goals and one assist on five shots. As a team, Denver finished with 42 shots and 42 ground balls, while tallying four saves and capitalizing on its only man-up opportunity.

Stony Brook opened up the scoring just 41 seconds into the game as Jordan MacBride scored his 19th goal of the season on a pass from Robbie Campbell. The Seawovles added two more goals over the next six minutes to take a 3-0 lead as Tom Compitello and Kyle Belton both scored.

Denver added its first goal of the game with 6:42 remaining as junior Dillon Roy (Denver, Colo.) netted his second of the season. Gajic then cut the deficit to one after converting a pass from sophomore Andrew Lay (Denver, Colo.) to net his eight goal of the season.

Stony Brook tallied the next three goals to end the period as Campbell and McBride shared the scoring duties to give the Seawolves a 6-2 lead.

It was a different story in the second period as the Pioneers scored four straight goals over a span of eight minutes to tie the score 6-6. Freshman Mark Matthews (Oshawa, Ontario) added his 11th of the season on a pass from junior Charley Dickenson (Dallas, Texas) with 13:45 remaining, while Gajic added his second of the game, ninth of the season, on another pass from Lay with 10:43 left.

Senior Cliff Smith (Surrey, B.C.) added his seventh of the season on a pass from Dickenson with 8:27 remaining, while Matthews added his second of the game, 12th of the season on a pass from Smith with 7:27 left.

Stony Brook scored the final goal of the half to take a 7-6 lead as Compitello scored his second of the game, fifth of the season.

After the Seawolves took a 9-6 lead to open the third quarter, the Pioneers began to find the net once again as they rattled off eight unanswered goals that spanned from the six minute mark of the third period to the 11 minute mark in the fourth period to take a 14-9 lead.

The scoring streak included three goals by Gajic, two goals by Matthews and two goals by Dickenson.

Stony Brook ended the scoring streak with 9:03 remaining as Timmy Trenkle scored his ninth goal of the game on a pass from Compitello.

Denver then added two more to take a 16-10 lead as sophomore Todd Baxter (Eden Prarie, Minn.) added his seventh of the season and Murray added his 16th.

Despite a late two-goal rally by the Seawolves, Denver was able to hold off Stony Brook and score its final goal of the game as sophomore Jeff Brown (Cohasset, Mass.) scored his first of the season to give the Pioneers the 17-12 win.

Denver returns to action on Tuesday evening as it hosts Drexel at the Peter Barton Lacrosse Stadium at 7:30 p.m.

NCAA BOXSCORE
SBU vs #18 Denver (03/21/09 at Denver, Colo.)
SBU (4-3) vs. Denver (5-3)
Date: 03/21/09      Location: Denver, Colo.         Stadium: Peter Barton LS
Attendance:802   Start time:1:30 pm   End time:3:36 pm   Total time:2:06

DALLAS, Texas – A five-goal effort from senior attackman Ryan Hoff (Baldwin, Md./Dulaney) paved the way for the No. 3 Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team in a 13-7 triumph of Vermont at the 2009 Patriot Cup on Saturday afternoon at Ford Stadium. The win improves the Irish to 6-0 on the season.

Notre Dame exploded with a seven-goal first quarter to take a 7-1 lead after the opening 15 minutes of play. Junior attackman Neal Hicks (Atlanta, Ga./The Lovett School) started the scoring for the Irish just over two minutes into the contest.

After Vermont (3-3) knotted the score with an Andrew Kelleher goal at the 9:33 mark of the first quarter, Notre Dame scored the game’s next eight goals to grab a 9-1 lead by the 13:00 mark of the second quarter. Hoff tallied four of the goals in the surge, while fellow senior Duncan Swezey (Ambler, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) had two of the scores. Sophomore midfielder David Earl (Simsbury, Conn./Westminster School), who had a career-high three goals on the day, and junior Grant Krebs (Annapolis, Md./St. Mary’s) also scored during the run.

The Catamounts answered with four straight goals of their own. Kelleher netted back-to-back tallies to slice the deficit to six (9-3) with 5:56 left on the clock in the second quarter. A goal from Derek Lichtfuss cut the margin to five (9-4) at the intermission.

Vermont’s Ryan Gillette scored the first goal of the second half with 6:25 remaining in the third quarter to make it a four-goal contest (9-5). Notre Dame stopped the Catamount streak as Krebs fed Hoff on a man-up goal with 3:35 left in the third period. The Irish, who were 2-for-6 on man-up opportunities on the afternoon, led 10-5 after three quarters. The Catamounts did not convert on its only man-up chance of the day.

Following Kelleher’s fourth goal of the contest, Earl and Hicks deposited scores to give Notre Dame a 12-6 lead with 8:35 left in regulation. A goal from Vermont’s Parker Bunnell made it 12-7 at the 6:36 mark. Earl finished off his hat trick with 21 seconds left to produce the final margin.

Hoff, Krebs, Swezey, Dan Gibson (Germantown, Tenn./Memphis University School) and Adam Felicetti (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks East) all collected an assist for the Irish in the win. Senior goalie Scott Rodgers (Wantagh, N.Y./MacArthur) made nine saves to up his record to 6-0 on the season. His counterpart Justin Lubas had 13 stops in the loss. The Fighting Irish out shot the Catamounts 47-30. Notre Dame won 14 of 23 faceoffs as Jake Marmul (Livonia, Mich./Detroit Catholic Central) went 7-4 and Trever Sipperly (Greenwich, N.Y./Greenwich) was 7-5.

Notre Dame will open its Great Western Lacrosse League slate with a home date against Bellarmine on Wednesday, March 25. Game time is slated for 4:00 p.m. (ET).

Stay up-to-date on the Notre Dame men’s lacrosse team by logging onto und.com. You can also sign up to receive text message score updates through Irish Alert. Log onto und.com for more details.

COLUMBUS, Ohio – Despite a career-best 14 saves from junior goalie Brandon Freeman, the Ohio State men’s lacrosse team fell to No. 6 UMBC, 9-8 in overtime, Saturday at UMBC Stadium in Baltimore. It marks the fourth time in the last five meetings the Buckeyes and Retrievers have needed overtime to decide a game.

The Buckeyes, who were down 4-0 after the first quarter, battled back to tie the game in the third when they outscored UMBC, 2-0. Ohio State held a brief lead early in the fourth quarter before the Retrievers went on a three-goal run to go back ahead, 8-6, Ohio State then got goals from James Green and Mario Ventiquattro, both assisted by Joel Dalgarno, to knot the score at 8 with less than three minutes remaining. In overtime, UMBC won the faceoff and controlled the ball until Alex Hopmann scored his fourth of the game, coming on the only shot of OT, to give the Retrievers the win.

Dalgarno had a team-best two assists and three points, with Jeff Ryan and Green each scoring twice. Senior Nick Carr won 10-of-15 faceoffs in the game.

UMBC led 4-0 after the first quarter, with three goals in the first five minutes of the game. Matt Latham scored at 13:56 to open the scoring. Alex Hopmann tallied man-up at 11:27 and Kyle Wimer found the back of the cage one minute later. Hopmann scored his second of the game with 1:07 remaining in the quarter. UMBC controlled the action in the quarter, outshooting the Buckeyes, 11-1.

Ohio State drew within one with the first three goals of the second quarter. Green scored unassisted at 12:27 and Dalgarno followed with a goal at 8:11. Mike Pires cut the UMBC lead to one (4-3) when he scored with 4:41 remaining. Latham put UMBC back up by two with a goal, set up by Wimer, at 1:50. UMBC led, 5-3, at halftime. Each team had nine shots in the quarter.

Ohio State scored the only two goals of the third quarter to tie the game through three stanzas. Jeff Ryan tallied just 58 seconds into the quarter. The teams were scoreless until Buckeye freshman Eddie Bambino scored his third of the year with 1:08 left, tying the game at 5-all. Buckeye goalie Brandon Freeman made six saves in the quarter, as UMBC outshot Ohio State, 10-7.

Ryan put Ohio State ahead for the first time 14 seconds into the fourth quarter after the Buckeyes on the opening faceoff, with Keith Lovett assisting. UMBC responded with three-consecutive goals to go ahead, 8-6. Hopmann scored at 14:10 before Peet Poillon (man-up) and Latham scored 26 seconds apart, at 8:26 and 8:00, respectively. Dalgarno set up James Green for a man-up goal at 6:42, making the score 8-7 and then found Mario Ventiquattro  at 3:13, knotting the score at 8-all. UMBC outshot Ohio State, 9-5, in the quarter, with Freeman making two saves.

In overtime, UMBC won the opening faceoff and controlled the ball. Hopmann was able to convert the only shot of overtime at 2:44, lifting the Retrievers to the win.

UMBC outshot Ohio State in the game, 40-22. Freeman played 61:16 and had 14 saves for the Buckeyes. Jeremy Blevins saw 61:16 for the Retrievers in the cage and had six saves.

Ohio State converted 1-of-3 extra-man chances in the game, with UMBC 2-for-5.

Postgame Notes
Ohio State continues its spring break trip when it heads north to Hamilton, N.Y., to take on Colgate at 7 p.m. Tuesday. The Buckeyes will return home to host Quinnipiac at 1 p.m. Saturday in Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium.

Dalgarno now leads the Buckeyes with 14 assists and 30 points. He is second for the Buckeyes in career goals (109) and points (196) and third in assists (87).

Ryan has a team-best 18 goals and has 70 goals, 32 assists and 102 points in his career, tying for 24th in program history in career points.

Freeman has double-digit saves in five of seven starts this year and topped his previous high of 12, set against Navy earlier this year.

Lovett’s assist was his first point as a Buckeye.

QUEENS, N.Y. (March 21, 2009) – Despite a career-best five-goal effort by rookie attackman Harry Kutner, St. John’s men’s lacrosse team fell 10-9 in overtime to the visiting Lehigh Mountain Hawks Saturday afternoon on DaSilva Memorial Field. Lehigh’s win is their second overtime victory this week.

Mountain Hawk senior Ricky Cornetta scored with .07 seconds left to force the No. 18 Red Storm into its first overtime game since April 23, 1994.

With the loss, St. John’s falls to 5-2 on the season. Lehigh’s record advances to 3-6.

Down for the majority of the game, the Red Storm went on a run in the second half to come from behind and finally take the lead with 6:11 left in the fourth period.

Lehigh took a four-goal lead in the first period before Kutner scored a minute and a half into the second quarter to put the Red Storm on the board.

After Cornetta put one back for the Mountain Hawks, senior Trevor Michaelsen cut the Lehigh lead to three, 5-2, scoring his fourth man-up goal of the season at 11:47. His goal was assisted by fellow senior Drew Schanen.

Kutner scored once more, connecting with senior Jamal Jones, who marked his first assist of the season, with 31 seconds left in the half to tighten the score to 5-3. Coming in from the break, the rookie sunk his third goal of the game, and his first career-hat trick, to bring the Red Storm within one at 13:54 in the third. Lehigh’s Kyle Gentile came back three minutes later to extend the Mountain Hawk lead to 6-4 as neither team would score again in the third quarter.

Getting a shot off as he fell to the ground in front of the net, Kutner scored his fourth goal of the game to bring St. John’s back within one again, 6-5, with 13:29 left in the game.

Lehigh answered back with a man-up goal from Cameron Lao-Gosney at 12:55, before St. John’s went on a three-goal scoring streak led off by senior attackman Bobby Fitton. Assisted by Schanen, Fitton got a quick one past Lehigh goaltender Morgan Haller at 10:29. Freshman Carl Iacona kept the momentum going as he tied the game, 7-7, at 9:58 with a goal that just trickled in past Haller. Positioned about five feet off the crease, senior midfielder Malcolm Miles netted the Red Storm go-ahead goal with just over six minutes left to play.

Cornetta came back for the Mountain Hawks at 5:10 to tie the game at eight each.

Scoreless for the next four minutes of play, as the pressure continued to build, Kutner and Miles teamed up to give St. John’s a one-goal lead with 1:13 left on the game clock.

In the final minute of play, senior Dom DeNapoli secured possession for the Red Storm with a face-off win. St. John’s called a time out with 50 second left and Lehigh swapped goaltenders for the fourth time. St. John’s turned the ball over giving way for a Lehigh clear. Setting up a play after a called time out, Lehigh’s Adam Johnston shot the ball which was saved by junior goaltender Gavin Buckley but bounced to Cornetta who sunk the tying goal, forcing the game into overtime.

After the face-off by DeNapoli and the ground ball pick up by junior Reggie Davis, St. John’s turned the ball over to give Lehigh the final possession in the extra period. One shot would do it for Brian Bienemann, who sank the winning goal at 3:36 in overtime.

Lehigh won the battle on the turf, winning ground balls (33-28), clears, shots, face-offs and saves. St. John’s only got one shot off in the first period of play.

After the two-game week, St. John’s will have a full week of rest before returning to conference play with a home game against Rutgers on March 28. The game will be played as part of the Lacrosse Day of Champions, hosted by the Indians Rock Community Foundation at Manhasset High School in Manhasset, N.Y. Face-off is slated for noon.

– Red Storm –

SYRACUSE, N.Y. – Binghamton (1-6) gave second-ranked Syracuse (5-1) all it could handle in the first half, but the Orange’s offensive depth proved to be too much for the Bearcats as Syracuse pulled away for a 13-4 triumph on Saturday, March 21 at the Carrier Dome.

Syracuse featured six different goal scorers in the first half and had nine players score at least one goal overall. Junior attackman Chris Daniello led the way with three goals to record his second career hat trick. Senior attackman Kenny Nims and sophomore attackman Stephen Keogh each finished with two scores. The Orange also had six players tally one goal, including starters Dan Hardy, Matt Abbott and Tim Desko.

Binghamton hung with the Orange early and led 2-1 after a man-up goal by Jonny Baron at the 14:42 mark of the second quarter. But Syracuse used its versatility to its advantage after that and outscored the Bearcats, 5-1, in the final 14 minutes of the period to take a 6-3 advantage at the half. Five different players scored in the run with back-to-back goals coming from Keogh and senior Scott Kahoe 42 seconds apart to cap the scoring spree.

The Bearcats briefly cut the Orange advantage to 6-4 on a goal by Steve Carlson 1:27 into the third quarter. However, Syracuse scored seven unassisted goals to close the game and record the victory.

Defensively, the Orange was stellar once again. After allowing three goals in the first half, Syracuse gave up just one the rest of the way and held the Bearcats scoreless for the final 28:33 of the contest. Binghamton attempted just seven shots in the second half, and performance lowered Syracuse’s season-goals against average to 7.0.

Sophomore close defenseman John Lade marked Binghamton leading scorer Andy Cook for the majority of the game. Lade held Cook without a point and limited him to just three shots. Lade also collected six ground balls. Abbott paced the Orange with a game-high seven ground balls, one shy of his career high.

Sophomore goalie John Galloway made nine saves in three quarters of action, including five in the first period. Galloway eclipsed the 200-saves mark for his career and now has 205 stops in 24 career games. Junior Al Cavalieri played the fourth quarter Saturday and finished with two saves.

Syracuse held the advantage in ground balls (41-25) and shots (41-23). Each team won 10 faceoffs. The Orange used four different players at the faceoff stripe versus Binghamton. Kahoe and sophomore Tim Harder led the way for Syracuse with three faceoff wins apiece.

The Orange returns to action on Tuesday, March 24 when its hosts long-time rival Hobart in a mid-week matchup at the Carrier Dome. Faceoff is set for 7 p.m. on Time Warner 26.

Game Notes: The Orange is 3-0 all-time against Binghamton and has defeated the Bearcats by the aggregate score of 45-16 in the three meetings … Nims extended his consecutive games with  a point streak to 22 … Senior midfielder Pat Perritt assisted on two of SU’s five second-quarter goals to record the first multi-assist game of his career … The Binghamton game marked the fourth time in six outings this season that Syracuse featured at least eight different goal scorers … The Orange improved to 18-1 since the start of the 2008 season when winning the ground ball battle … Syracuse has held its opponents to fewer than 10 goals in 17 of the 24 games since the start of 2008 and has limited its foes to five goals or less in eight of those contests, including three of its six games this season.
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DURHAM, N.C.—Duke University goaltender Rob Schroeder made a career-high 14 saves, including six in the fourth quarter, to lead the eighth-ranked Blue Devils to a 9-5 victory over No. 19 Georgetown in men’s lacrosse action this afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. Duke scored four unanswered goals in the final 17:08 of the game to capture the victory.

“The fact that our defensive group held Georgetown to five goals is a phenomenal total,” head coach John Danowski said. “I’m really happy for Rob Schroeder. He had 14 saves and that’s a phenomenal job. I’m really proud of him.”

The five goals allowed by Duke is the fewest this season as it improves to 7-3 overall. Georgetown drops to 2-4 overall on the year as Duke handed the Hoyas their first road loss of the season.

“We mixed up our defensive system today, but other than that we got contributions from everybody,” senior Ryan McFadyen said. “Anytime we could get on their gloves we did. We didn’t want to let them get comfortable or get settled.”

Juniors Max Quinzani and Will McKee led Duke with three and two goals, respectively.  Justin Turri had a goal and an assist and Ned Crotty had two helpers. Duke had eight different players register a point in the win. Georgetown was led by Ryan Shuler with two tallies.

The Hoyas got on the board first just 2:21 into the contest with an unassisted score from Todd Cochran. Duke responded in commanding fashion with five unanswered for a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter.

Not missing a beat after giving up the early goal, Duke scored four times on eight shots. CJ Costabile tied the game with a bounce shot over the right shoulder of Hoya keeper Jack Davis at the 12:25 mark.

Quinzani took over for the remaining 12 minutes of the quarter, posting three goals on three shots. He gave Duke the early 2-1 lead off a pass from Crotty to start his run and added a pair of man-up scores in 42 seconds to send the Blue Devils into the first break with a 4-1 lead.

“I think I had three shots on three goals so that made me feel a lot more confident,” Quinzani said. “Once I start doing that, it takes the pressure of the other guys so they can start hitting their shots. We were really casual today and played with confidence. It was a lot different than on Tuesday [against Cornell] and I think that was the difference in the game.”

Duke got a goal from McKee in the early minutes of the second quarter to make it 5-1 and the Blue Devil defense stymied any threats from the Hoyas. Georgetown took advantage of a penalty in the final minute of the half and was able to tally two goals in nine seconds to cut the deficit in half going into the locker room.

Georgetown carried that momentum into the third quarter as it added two more scores to tie the contest at 5-5 with 3:04 left in the third frame. Duke’s offense that was firing on all cylinders early in the contest continued to struggle in the third quarter.

“It was 5-3 and then it was 5-5,” Danowski said. “I was very proud of the way our guys kept their poise. I thought against Cornell we lost our poise a little bit in the fourth quarter and today we kept our poise.”

Despite going 23:36 without scoring a goal, Duke never allowed Georgetown to take the lead. After the Hoyas tied the score at five, the Blue Devils answered with two unanswered in the final two minutes of the third quarter and added two more to secure the four-goal win.

“We came out a little flat [in the third quarter], but our defense still played well,” Quinzani said. “They didn’t let them get a lead, and we came back. We had forgotten how to play for just a little bit and then we got back into it.”

Catalino started the run at the 2:08 mark of the third quarter with a man-up tally. Turri provided the assist on the play. Just 21 seconds later it was Zach Howell and Steve Schoeffel combining to make it a 7-5 game after three sessions.

Looking to pull away in the final 15 minutes, Duke got some big saves from Schroeder and was able to put two more on the scoreboard. Crotty connected with Turri six minutes into the stanza with a perfect pass through traffic and gave the Blue Devils a three-goal cushion. McKee sealed the victory with 3:41 left with a man-down score.

Senior Sam Payton went 7-of-14 in faceoffs and picked up two ground balls. Quinzani led all players with six ground balls, while Parker McKee collected five.

Georgetown took 37 shots to Duke’s 29, while the Blue Devils won the ground ball battle 35-28. Duke was 3-of-7 on man-up situations, while the Hoyas went 1-of-3. Davis made 10 saves in goal for Georgetown.

“It was a hard eight days with North Carolina last Saturday and Cornell on Tuesday,” Danowski said. “I am delighted with our ability to bounce back from losing on Tuesday night and staying on task. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Notes: Senior Brad Ross captured his 64th win in a Duke uniform against the Hoyas. His 64 wins surpass the NCAA record for career victories set by former Duke players Matt Danowski, Nick O’Hara, and Michael Ward. He has played in each of Duke’s 64 wins since joining the team in 2005.

Junior Max Quinzani pushed his scoring streak to 37 games with three goals. He has 103 goals and 14 assists for 117 points in the 37-game stretch.

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PRESS RELEASE

No. 1 NYIT holds off No. 8 Dowling 9-8

Box Score

Old Westbury, N.Y. (March 21, 2009) – Junior Matt Sullivan (West Islip, N.Y.) scored the game-winning goal with :57 seconds left in regulation to give the No. 1 NYIT men’s lacrosse team a 9-8 win over No. 8 Dowling College this afternoon in East Coast Conference action. Senior Keith Henderson (Port Jeff Station, N.Y.) scored a game-high four goals and added an assist to help the Bears remain unbeaten at 5-0 on the season and 1-0 in the ECC. The loss drops Dowling to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the conference. Dowling rallied from an 8-3 deficit in the third quarter by scoring five straight goals and eventually tying the score at 8-8 midway through the fourth quarter.

Junior Austin Carino (Huntington, N.Y.) got the Bears on the scoreboard early in the first quarter, scoring off a feed from senior Jeremy Hobson (Riverhead, N.Y.) with 12:53 on the clock. Dowling came right back just over a minute later as John McClure scored to tie the game at 1-1. The Bears offense took over at that point, scoring four consecutive goals, including one from Carino, two straight from Henderson and a well-earned goal from senior defenseman Andrew Maurer (E. Setauket, N.Y.), who cleared the ball and ran the length of the field to score. Dowling’s Tom Oswald scored a goal similar to Maurer’s with 2:20 left in the first, but on the ensuing stick check, he was called for an illegal stick. The goal was disallowed and Oswald was in the penalty box for three minutes. Dowling killed-off the penalty though and the Bears ended the first quarter with a 5-1 lead.

The two teams would only combine for three goals in the second quarter. Dowling scored first to make it a 5-2 game, but Henderson would score both of the Bears goals to help NYIT head into the half with a 7-2 lead.

The third quarter was scoreless for the first 10 minutes, until Dowling’s Kyle O’Brien scored with 4:26 on the clock to bring the Golden Lions to within 7-3. Junior Matt Ryan (Massapequa, N.Y.) responded for the Bears, scoring off of a feed from Henderson just over a minute later push NYIT’s lead back to 8-3. But Dowling responded once again as McClure netted his second of the game :30 seconds later to make the score 8-4. When McClure scored with :35 seconds left in the third quarter to make it an 8-5 game, the momentum began swinging into Dowling’s favor. The Golden Lions offensive outburst continued into the fourth as Dowling scored the first three goals, eventually tying the score at 8-8 on a goal from Justion Bunton with 7:45 to play. Both teams had their chances down the stretch to regain the lead, but neither could convert until Sullivan beat his man from behind the cage and slid a shot over the shoulder of Dowling keeper Ryan Dougherty for the win.

Senior Chris Powers (Salt Lake City, Utah) was stellar in goal for the Bears, making 10 saves, including several from point-blank range. Dougherty made nine saves in the net for the Golden Lions.

The Bears return to action next Saturday as they travel to Molloy College for an ECC contest at 1 p.m.

DURHAM, N.C.—Duke University goaltender Rob Schroeder made a career-high 14 saves, including six in the fourth quarter, to lead the eighth-ranked Blue Devils to a 9-5 victory over No. 19 Georgetown in men’s lacrosse action this afternoon at Koskinen Stadium. Duke scored four unanswered goals in the final 17:08 of the game to capture the victory.

“The fact that our defensive group held Georgetown to five goals is a phenomenal total,” head coach John Danowski said. “I’m really happy for Rob Schroeder. He had 14 saves and that’s a phenomenal job. I’m really proud of him.”

The five goals allowed by Duke is the fewest this season as it improves to 7-3 overall. Georgetown drops to 2-4 overall on the year as Duke handed the Hoyas their first road loss of the season.

“We mixed up our defensive system today, but other than that we got contributions from everybody,” senior Ryan McFadyen said. “Anytime we could get on their gloves we did. We didn’t want to let them get comfortable or get settled.”

Juniors Max Quinzani and Will McKee led Duke with three and two goals, respectively.  Justin Turri had a goal and an assist and Ned Crotty had two helpers. Duke had eight different players register a point in the win. Georgetown was led by Ryan Shuler with two tallies.

The Hoyas got on the board first just 2:21 into the contest with an unassisted score from Todd Cochran. Duke responded in commanding fashion with five unanswered for a 5-1 lead early in the second quarter.

Not missing a beat after giving up the early goal, Duke scored four times on eight shots. CJ Costabile tied the game with a bounce shot over the right shoulder of Hoya keeper Jack Davis at the 12:25 mark.

Quinzani took over for the remaining 12 minutes of the quarter, posting three goals on three shots. He gave Duke the early 2-1 lead off a pass from Crotty to start his run and added a pair of man-up scores in 42 seconds to send the Blue Devils into the first break with a 4-1 lead.

“I think I had three shots on three goals so that made me feel a lot more confident,” Quinzani said. “Once I start doing that, it takes the pressure of the other guys so they can start hitting their shots. We were really casual today and played with confidence. It was a lot different than on Tuesday [against Cornell] and I think that was the difference in the game.”

Duke got a goal from McKee in the early minutes of the second quarter to make it 5-1 and the Blue Devil defense stymied any threats from the Hoyas. Georgetown took advantage of a penalty in the final minute of the half and was able to tally two goals in nine seconds to cut the deficit in half going into the locker room.

Georgetown carried that momentum into the third quarter as it added two more scores to tie the contest at 5-5 with 3:04 left in the third frame. Duke’s offense that was firing on all cylinders early in the contest continued to struggle in the third quarter.

“It was 5-3 and then it was 5-5,” Danowski said. “I was very proud of the way our guys kept their poise. I thought against Cornell we lost our poise a little bit in the fourth quarter and today we kept our poise.”

Despite going 23:36 without scoring a goal, Duke never allowed Georgetown to take the lead. After the Hoyas tied the score at five, the Blue Devils answered with two unanswered in the final two minutes of the third quarter and added two more to secure the four-goal win.

“We came out a little flat [in the third quarter], but our defense still played well,” Quinzani said. “They didn’t let them get a lead, and we came back. We had forgotten how to play for just a little bit and then we got back into it.”

Catalino started the run at the 2:08 mark of the third quarter with a man-up tally. Turri provided the assist on the play. Just 21 seconds later it was Zach Howell and Steve Schoeffel combining to make it a 7-5 game after three sessions.

Looking to pull away in the final 15 minutes, Duke got some big saves from Schroeder and was able to put two more on the scoreboard. Crotty connected with Turri six minutes into the stanza with a perfect pass through traffic and gave the Blue Devils a three-goal cushion. McKee sealed the victory with 3:41 left with a man-down score.

Senior Sam Payton went 7-of-14 in faceoffs and picked up two ground balls. Quinzani led all players with six ground balls, while Parker McKee collected five.

Georgetown took 37 shots to Duke’s 29, while the Blue Devils won the ground ball battle 35-28. Duke was 3-of-7 on man-up situations, while the Hoyas went 1-of-3. Davis made 10 saves in goal for Georgetown.

“It was a hard eight days with North Carolina last Saturday and Cornell on Tuesday,” Danowski said. “I am delighted with our ability to bounce back from losing on Tuesday night and staying on task. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Notes: Senior Brad Ross captured his 64th win in a Duke uniform against the Hoyas. His 64 wins surpass the NCAA record for career victories set by former Duke players Matt Danowski, Nick O’Hara, and Michael Ward. He has played in each of Duke’s 64 wins since joining the team in 2005.

Junior Max Quinzani pushed his scoring streak to 37 games with three goals. He has 103 goals and 14 assists for 117 points in the 37-game stretch.

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