Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Men's Lacrosse Nipped by Army 7-6
4/9/2005 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 9, 2005
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army's Chris Larsen scored with 21 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to give the Black Knights a 7-6 victory over Bucknell in a pivotal Patriot League contest Saturday afternoon at sunny Michie Stadium. A win would have clinched the right to host the Patriot League Tournament for the Bison, who fell to 6-3 overall, 4-1 in the Patriot League.
Despite failing to wrap up its fifth Patriot League title in six years, Bucknell is still alive in its quest for at least a share of the 2005 title. With the win, Army takes over sole possession of first place in the league standings, improving to 4-0 in conference play and 9-1 overall.
After Larsen's game-winning goal, Bucknell did have a chance to tie the game, but came up short. The Bison called back-to-back timeouts with less than five seconds on the clock, but could only manage a shot from just outside the box from Kirk Klett that sailed wide right of the goal.
Bucknell opened an early 3-0 lead in the first seven minutes of the game as Klett, Brian Gargan and Nicholas Marks netted goals. Army got on the board for the first time when Jim Wagner scored the first of his three goals with 6:57 left in the first. An unassisted goal from Steve Case gave Bucknell a 4-1 lead at the end of the opening quarter. The Bison launched 14 shots to the Black Knights' two in the first quarter, while Bucknell was successful on 3 of 4 clears. Army was just 3 of 7 on clears in the first quarter.
During the second quarter Army outscored Bucknell 3-0 to even the score at 4-4 heading into halftime. It was the complete opposite of the first quarter as the Black Knights fired 10 shots to the Bison's five. For the game, Bucknell outshot Army 33-26.
Klett and John Walker each scored in the third quarter as the teams entered the fourth period tied at five-all.
Army took its first lead of the game in the fourth quarter when Wagner scored his third goal of the contest to give the Black Knights a 6-5 advantage with just over 10 minutes to play. Chris Cara, who was limited to just one goal, answered 32 seconds later. Cara was held in check primarily by defenseman Matt Luyster. That was the final goal until Larsen ended the scoring in the final seconds.
Matt Baran made eight saves, six in the second half, as he played all game in goal for Bucknell. Adam Fullerton and Matt Darak split time in goal for Army. Fullerton made 10 saves, six in the first quarter, while Darak recorded all six of his saves in the second half.
Bucknell will travel to Mount St. Mary's Saturday, April 16, in a non-conference game at 1 p.m.
