Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Penn State
Bucknell Men's Lax Battles Back to Defeat No. 13 Penn State, 11-10
4/19/2006 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 19, 2006
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- For the second time this season, Bucknell bounced back from a cross-country trip to defeat a highly ranked team on the road, as the Bison rallied for a thrilling 11-10 victory over No. 13 Penn State Wednesday night at Jeffrey Field. The Bison, who had just arrived back home from a two-game trip to Colorado in the wee hours of Monday morning, also knocked off No. 1 Maryland earlier this season just days after returning home from a game in California.
Bucknell, now 6-7 on the season, snapped Penn State's four-game winning streak and defeated the Nittany Lions (6-4) for the first time since 2001. It was also Bucknell's first victory at Penn State since the Bison's undefeated season in 1996.
This one had a back-and-forth finish, as Penn State erased an 8-5 deficit by scoring five straight goals in just 4:42, but the resilient Bison overcame the 10-8 hole by scoring the final three goals of the night. There were plenty of stars for Bucknell, most notably senior goalie Matt Baran (Wilmington, Del./Tatnall), who made a career-high 18 saves, including a critical stop on John Eremus with just over a minute to play and another on Matt Warner with 14 seconds left, both coming with the Bison clinging to a one-goal lead.
Freshman John Togneri (Longmeadow, Mass./Loomis-Chaffee) tallied a career-high five points on three goals and two assists, and he scored the winning goal with 2:49 remaining. Kirk Klett (Mt. Lebanon, Pa./Mt. Lebanon), who tied the game with 9:20 left on a well executed hidden-ball trick, scored twice, as did Joe Mele (Westbury, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) and Nick Marks (Barrington, Ill./Salisbury School). Mele, who leads the team with 23 goals, also registered his first career assist.
Three straight second-quarter goals from Togneri, Matt Castele (Medina, Ohio/Medina) and Marks helped stake the Bison to a 5-3 lead. They stretched it to 6-3 on Mele's goal off a feed from freshman Mike Thon (Rochester, N.Y./Penfield). Bucknell still led by three at 8-5 on Klett's goal with 1:22 left in the third quarter, but the Nittany Lions quickly roared back.
Pat Heim's goal 18 seconds later made it 8-6, then Heim scored again at the start of the fourth quarter to bring Penn State within a goal. Nate Whitaker tied it with 12:31 to play, and just 15 seconds later Greg Gurenlian cleanly won a faceoff and scored to give the Lions their first lead since it was 1-0. Heim's fourth tally of the night with 11:22 left made it 10-8, seemingly taking the wind out of Bucknell's sails.
But this Bison squad, which has now played six one-goal games this season, had plenty of fight left. Perry Menzies (Upperco, Md./Hereford) and Klett both scored man-up goals to tie it. Penn State had a late possession to regain the lead but was called for a crease violation, and Bucknell answered with Togneri's go-ahead goal from close range with 2:49 left.
Penn State won the ensuing faceoff and the two teams swapped turnovers before the Lions called timeout with 1:36 to play. Moments later Baran stoned Eremus to protect the lead. Bucknell cleared, but Penn State forced a turnover on a re-start in the box with 27 seconds left. With 14 ticks remaining Baran turned aside Warner's shot on Penn State's final threat of the night.
Baran was spectacular, adding nine ground balls to his career-best 18 saves, and he quarterbacked a transition game that went 15-for-16 on clears. The only failed clear all night came with five seconds left in the game.
Baran's previous career high for saves was 17, set last season against Maryland and in 2004 against Harvard and Army.
For Bucknell, the victory game despite winning only five of 24 faceoffs, although Austin Sanders (Great Falls, Va./Landon) did win three straight critical draws after Penn State took its 10-8 lead.
Gurenlian won 19 faceoffs for Penn State and logged 15 gound balls.
Bucknell wraps up its 2006 season on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Patriot League rival Colgate. It will be Senior Day at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
