Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Holy Cross *
Cara, Christensen Lead Bison Men's Lax to 18-5 Rout of Holy Cross
3/20/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
March 20, 2004
WORCESTER, Mass. - Patrick Christensen tied his career high with six goals and Chris Cara, the national scoring leader, logged two goals and a whopping eight assists for a career-high 10-point game to lead Bucknell to an 18-5 win over Holy Cross in a Patriot League men's lacrosse game on Saturday afternoon.
The Bison, who also received a career-high four goals from John Salvesen, emphatically snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 3-3 overall, 1-1 in the Patriot League. Holy Cross fell to 0-4, 0-3.
Cara's eight assists and 10 points were both one shy of Bucknell records. Matt Fraser had nine assists and 11 points in a game against Lafayette in 1980. Peter Von Hoffman also had 11 points in a game against Penn State in 1979.
Bucknell sprinted to a 4-0 lead less than five minutes into the contest. Brian Gargan opened the scoring off a Salvesen assist just 37 seconds in, and Christensen scored three straight, all off Cara feeds, in a span of only 3:14 to stake the Herd to an early cushion.
Holy Cross cut the lead in half on goals by Billy Klotz and Mike McKee, but Cara recorded his fourth and fifth assists of the first quarter, setting up Christensen and Salvesen for a 6-2 Bucknell lead after one period.
Bucknell added four more tallies in the second frame, capped by Patrick Lenhart's goal with 1:49 remaining, to take a 10-4 halftime lead.
Each team scored once in the third - John O'Sullivan for the Crusaders and Salvesen for the Bison. The O'Sullivan goal with 8:27 left in the third period, would be Holy Cross' final goal of the game, while Bucknell scored seven more times in the fourth quarter, including four goals with a man advantage.
The Bison, who entered the game converting at a stellar 50 percent clip in EMO situations, went 5-for-9 on Saturday. Bucknell held a 51-16 shot advantage and won 47 ground balls to the Crusaders 25.
Bison goalie Matt Baran played into the fourth quarter and made five saves, while Mark Davis made one stop in 10:02 of shutout action. Brian Hodgson finished with 20 saves for Holy Cross.
Bucknell returns to action on Tuesday night at Pennsylvania.
