Bucknell University
Penn State
Seniors Pace No. 12 Bucknell to 7-5 Men's Lax Victory over Penn State in Home Finale
4/17/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 17, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Brian Gargan, Greg Sowyrda and the rest of the Bucknell seniors made sure the 12th-ranked Bison men's lacrosse team hit the road on a positive note. Gargan scored three goals, all in the first quarter, while defenseman Sowyrda had a game-high six ground balls and added an assist on a big fourth-quarter goal to lead Bucknell to a 7-5 win over Penn State on a cool, breezy night at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
The victory was Bucknell's fourth in a row and upped its season record to 11-2. The Bison are one victory away from tying the program single-season record with back-to-back games against Patriot League rival Colgate looming on the horizon. Penn State, which had won four of five, fell to 4-6.
Bucknell used a familiar potion of swarming defense, rock-solid goaltending and timely scoring in defeating Penn State for the second year in a row and ninth time in 41 tries. The Bison entered the game ranked second nationally in scoring defense, allowing only 5.8 goals per game, while sophomore goalie Nick Sciubba (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Salisbury School) came in leading the nation in both save percentage and goals-against average, and the defense improved on all of those figures by holding the Nittany Lions to only three even-strength goals and five overall.
Sciubba finished with 12 saves, seven coming in the second half, and the defense came up with a number of takeaways in transition.
Offensively, Gargan (Baltimore, Md./Mount St. Joseph's) almost single-handedly got the Bison going in the opening minutes, then freshmen Tim Brandau (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh) and Austin Winter (Boonton Twp., N.J./Mt. Lakes) scored two big goals apiece later in the contest.
Penn State opened the scoring just 1:42 into the contest when Bubba Scott scored the first of his two extra-man goals. Just over a minute later Gargan picked up a ground ball in front of the crease and stuffed it home to even the score at 1-apiece.
The Nittany Lions went back ahead when Rob Forster scored from a tough angle with 9:57 left in the opening period, but then Gargan took over. At the 6:37 mark he took a pass from Brandau on the right wing and fired a lefty rocket low-to-high into the upper corner of the cage to make it 2-2. The goal came on a restart, just after the Bison riding unit forced Penn State to take too much time getting out of its own zone.
Just 1:32 later Gargan scored the goal of the night to put the Bison ahead to stay. After the ball was checked away from a Bison midfielder on the left flank, Gargan came from the opposite side, scooped the loose ball, and with his momentum carrying him away from the goal somehow fired an around-the-back shot past stunned goalie Drew Adams.
Gargan was at it again in the second period, giving Bucknell a two-goal cushion for the first time when he feathered a precise crossing pass to Brandau for a point-blank tally. Gargan, who missed all of last season with an ACL injury, equaled his career high with three goals and four points in the game.
The two teams alternated goals from there, as Penn State pulled within one goal three different times, but Bucknell would not yield the equalizer. Scott's second of the night with 4:35 left in the first half made it 4-3 at intermission, but the Bison opened the second half with another highlight-reel goal.
Steve Case (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker), another of the six seniors who were honored prior to the game, grabbed a loose ball near midfield and took off like a flash toward the Penn State goal. Case slipped a late pass to Brandau for another close-range goal just 2:05 into the third period.
Penn State controlled possession for most of the third quarter, and they finally cashed in at the 3:58 mark when Pat Heim scored unassisted to make it a 5-4 game.
Bucknell's riding unit came up big again early in the fourth quarter, helping to restore the two-goal margin yet again. This time Winter's pressure on a defender forced an errant pass, and Sowyrda charged toward midfield to win the ground ball. He continued across the midfield stripe and found Winter open on the left side, and the Patriot League's leading scorer, who had been shut out to that point, fired a hard, high shot past Adams for a 6-4 lead.
Only 1:01 later the Nittany Lions got the goal right back when Forster made a quick face dodge and scored with a hard righthanded shot from 12 yards out. Penn State won the ensuing faceoff and had two good looks at a possible tying goal, but Chris Hogan hit the post and Sciubba robbed Brian Boyle with a tough save.
With about 7:30 to play, the Bison forced another turnover and defensive middie Patrick Keeney (Baldwin, Md./Loyola Blakefield) picked up the loose ball. Gargan made a great play on a low pass to keep the clear attempt alive, and Bucknell essentially had possession for the rest of the game.
At the 5:25 mark Winter came from behind the cage and snuck a low shot between the legs of Adams for a critical insurance goal. Penn State then controlled its 11th faceoff of the night but quickly turned the ball over. The Bison cleared and burned off the rest of the clock without taking another shot. Two sets of Penn State double penalties helped Bucknell's cause, as the Bison easily moved the ball with a two-man advantage.
Bucknell outshot Penn State 27-26, while ground balls were even at 23 each. The Bison converted 18 of 20 clears, while holding the Nittany Lions to 14-for-19 efficiency.
Long-stick defensive middie Paul Stansik (Ann Arbor, Mich./Pioneer), faceoff specialist Danylko Kulczycky (Cazenovia, N.Y./Cazenovia) and attackman Kirk Klett (Mt. Lebanon, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) joined Gargan, Case and Sowyrda in the pregame senior ceremony.
Bucknell has allowed exactly five goals in each of its four consecutive wins. Since giving up 13 goals in a loss to Fairfield on March 13, the Bison defense has yielded only 4.8 per game in the seven games since then.
Bucknell wraps up the regular season on Saturday at Colgate at 1 p.m. The Bison and Raiders are also assured of meeting in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals on Friday, Apr. 27 in Annapolis, Md. Saturday's outcome will determine which team is the No. 2 seed and which is the No. 3. Host and No. 1 seed Navy will meet Army in the first semifinal game at 4 p.m., with Bucknell and Colgate to follow at 7 p.m.
The Patriot League championship game will also be at Navy at noon on Apr. 29, and it will be televised live on College Sports Television (CSTV).
