Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Fairfield
No. 14 Bucknell Outlasts No. 16 Fairfield in Men's Lax, 9-8
3/11/2008 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
March 11, 2008
LEWISBURG. Pa. - The 14th-ranked Bucknell men's lacrosse team built a big lead and held on for a 9-8 victory over No. 16 and previously unbeaten Fairfield on Tuesday afternoon at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The Bison captured their fourth straight victory, with three coming by one goal.
Tim Brandau, Joe Mele and Perry Menzies scored two goals apiece, and John Togneri netted a critical score with 4:30 to play after the Stags (3-1) had reduced Bucknell's 8-3 lead to 8-7.
The riding and special teams units also came up big for the Bison (4-1). Bucknell was 2-for-3 with an extra man, and the riding team held Fairfield to 12-for-21 clearing efficiency, including two important forced turnovers in the final 1:10.
The Bison dominated the first 40 minutes of the contest. They outshot Fairfield 21-5 in the first half, and by the time Brandau and Menzies scored in the first 4:07 of the second half it was an 8-3 game.
But the Stags, who came in averaging better than 10 goals per game, rallied in a flash. They rang up three goals in only 49 seconds to get back in it. Two Max Trunz-to-Travis Nelson combinations made it 8-5, and right off the next faceoff Kevin Peters buried one to bring the visitors within two.
With five minutes left in the third quarter Matt Scanlon took the ball away from a Bison midfielder, and Doug Kuring finshed the fastbreak to make it a one-goal game. Fairfield's seventh goal of the day came on just its ninth shot.
Bucknell's defense stiffened in the fourth quarter, however, and Togneri beat a defender and scored his big insurance marker with a low shot with 4:30 remaining. Fairfield answered 30 seconds later, though, when Nelson fed Chris Ajemian for a point-blank goal.
Bucknell goalie Nick Sciubba had just one save through three periods, but he made five big ones in the fourth, none bigger than the stop he made on Kuring's hard shot from only about seven yards out as Fairfield tried to tie it off the ensuing faceoff.
The Bison were 19-for-20 clearing the ball, and after a routine clear after the Sciubba save, they tried to drain the final three minutes off the clock. With 1:22 left Brandau was called for interference behind the cage, but Bucknell's hard-working ride unit caused some confusion and Fairfield went offside with 1:09 left.
A bad pass with 0:37 to play gave the Stags the ball back, but more pressure forced Chris Campbell into a turnover near midfield with 25 seconds to play. Bucknell played the ball all the way back into its own defensive end, then a 60-yard pass upfield and a scramble for the loose ball drained the rest of the clock.
The victory was Bucknell's second over a ranked team in 2008, and it upped its record to 4-0 at home.
Austin Winter had a goal and two assists for the Bison, while Ryan Klipstein also dished two assists, both coming with the EMO team. Freshman Mike Danylyshyn registered his first collegiate goal in the first period, when the Bison raced out to a 3-0 lead. The last of those goals came on a nice dodge and release by Brandau with only three seconds left in the period.
Peters and Brendan Finnerty scored just 53 seconds apart to open the second quarter, but Menzies fired between the legs of goalie Joe Marra to make it 4-2. Winter scored an EMO goal with 2:34 left in the half, then he fed Mele for a quick strike with only 12 seconds left to put Bucknell up 6-2.
Fairfield caught a break on a restart with two seconds left in the half. Ajemian fired a desperation shot through traffic, and the ricochet popped over Sciubba's head into the goal just before the final horn. But Brandau got the goal right back 1:40 into the second half, and Menzies' tracer into the upper corner a little over two minutes later gave the Bison a seemingly commanding 8-3 advantage.
Nelson and Ajemian both had two goals and an assist for Fairfield, while Peters also had a two-goal day. Rob Simeti won 7 of 8 faceoffs, as the Stags took 12 of 19 on the day. Marra finished with 11 saves. Bucknell finished with a 39-20 shot advantage and won the ground ball battle 22-17.
The Bison conclude their five-game homestand on Saturday against Lafayette at 1 p.m. It will be their Patriot League opener.
