Bucknell University
Army
Defense Strong Again as No. 15 Bucknell Men's Lax Edges No. 17 Army 6-5 at West Point
4/7/2007 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 7, 2007
WEST POINT, N.Y. - After dropping five straight games to Army, all by one goal, the 15th-ranked Bucknell men's lacrosse team reversed its fortunes on Saturday at Michie Stadium, defeating the 17th-ranked Black Knights 6-5 on the strength of five combined goals from freshmen attackmen Tim Brandau (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh) and Austin Winter (Boonton Twp., N.J./Mountain Lakes), a late game-winner from Perry Menzies (Upperco, Md./Hereford) and a number of big defensive stops down the stretch.
The victory improves Bucknell's overall record to 9-2 and its Patriot League record to 3-1. The Bison move into a second-place tie in the conference standings alongside Colgate, which defeated Lehigh 10-8 on Saturday. Army (6-4, 3-2) dropped into fourth place after suffering its third straight defeat.
This one figured to be a defensive struggle, as Army entered the game ranked No. 1 in the nation in scoring defense at 5.4 goals per game, while Bucknell came in ranked No. 5 at 6.0 goals per game. Bison goalie Nick Sciubba (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Salisbury School) entered as the national leader in save percentage (.673), while Army netminder Adam Fullerton (.664) ranked third.
Both goalies were outstanding all day. Sciubba finished with 10 saves, including four big ones in the fourth quarter, and he also had five ground balls, one coming in the final minutes of the game. Fullerton was credited with 16 saves.
Bucknell faced a 4-2 third-quarter deficit against that vaunted Army defense but got back in it with a strong finish to the period. With 1:16 remaining in the quarter John Togneri (Longmeadow, Mass./Loomis-Chaffee), back in the starting lineup with all-star attackman Joe Mele (Westbury, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) out with a knee injury, feathered a nifty pass to Brandau for his third goal of the day, bringing the Bison within 4-3. Then with only five seconds left in the period, Winter made a terrific individual play to dodge a defender and place a shot past Fullerton to even the game at 4-all.
Brooks Korvin scored his second goal of the day to put Army back in front 5-4 with 11:28 to play, but the Black Knights would not score again.
Another unassisted goal from Winter tied the game at 5-5 with 7:47 left, and just over two minutes later Togneri passed to Menzies, who fired home the go-ahead goal.
There were plenty of tense moments in the final five minutes, as Sciubba came up with late saves on Korvin and Paul Wigdzinski. After an offsides call against Bucknell, Army had a last shot in the closing seconds, but Ryan Chase fired wide and the Bison claimed only their second win ever at West Point.
Steve Case (Baldwinsville, N.Y./C.W. Baker), back in the lineup after missing three games with an injury, was a difference-maker for the Bison. He had a team-high six ground balls, many of them coming from the wing on faceoffs, one of which led directly to a first-half goal. With the score tied at 1-1 after the first period, Case gathered the loose ball on the second-period faceoff and soon after assisted on Brandau's goal just 11 seconds into the quarter.
Army scored the next three goals in succession, however, while holding Bucknell scoreless for more than 28 minutes. Alex Rhoads tied the game with 6:09 left in the half, and Chase put the Black Knights in front 3-2 at intermission with an unassisted tally with 2:03 remaining.
It remained a 3-2 game until Justin Bokmeyer scored a man-up goal on Bucknell's only penalty of the day with 3:09 left in the third quarter, setting the stage for Bucknell's comeback.
Brandau scored three goals for his second straight hat trick and third of the season. Winter, the Patriot League's leading point producer, finished with two goals and one assist, with both tallies tying the game in the second half.
Bucknell came out ahead in the faceoff department with Rick Carolan (Wellesley, Mass./St. Sebastians) winning 8 of 14 against four different Black Knights at the X. The Black Knights are traditionally strong in the ground ball department, but the Bison came out ahead 33-31. Bucknell outshot Army 42-29.
The victory was Bucknell's fifth in 28 all-time meetings with Army. The only other win at West Point came in 2001. Eight of the last nine series meetings have now been decided by one goal, and each of the last 10 have been decided by three goals or less.
The Bison will be back in action next Saturday with a key Patriot League home game against Lehigh at 8 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
