Bucknell University
Towson
Austin Winter's Nine-Point Night Powers Bucknell Laxmen Past Towson, 12-10
3/25/2008 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
March 25, 2008
TOWSON, Md. -- Tuesday was the fifth full day of spring, but it was still "Winter" time at Johnny Unitas Stadium, as sophomore attackman Austin Winter (Boonton Twp., N.J./Mountain Lakes) had a career-best nine-point night to lead the 15th-ranked Bucknell men's lacrosse team to a 12-10 victory over Towson.
Winter logged three goals and six assists, giving him a hand in 75 percent of Bucknell's tallies on the night. And the Bison needed every one of them, as Towson cut what had been a four-goal deficit to one in the fourth quarter before Tim Brandau (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh) and Winter came up with a pair of big insurance goals in the final eight minutes to keep the Tigers from getting even.
The Bison bounced back from a heartbreaking 4-3 overtime loss at then-No. 8 Navy last Wednesday with their second-highest scoring total of the season. Brandau, who grew up not far from the Towson campus, finished with three goals and an assist, while Joe Mele (Westbury, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) also recorded a hat trick.
The Bison also received a solid bounce-back performance from goalie Nick Sciubba (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Salisbury School) and a dominating effort from the faceoff tandem of Rick Carolan (Wellesley, Mass./St. Sebastians) and Christian Tucker (Ringoes, N.J./Hunterdon Central).
Sciubba finished with 12 saves, while Carolan (12-17) and Tucker (7-9) combined to win 19 of the 26 faceoffs.
The Bison are now 6-2 on the season, with both losses coming to top-10 teams in Duke and Navy. This was Bucknell's first road victory three attempts. Towson is a deceiving 1-5, as all six of its games have come against nationally ranked opponents.
The two former East Coast Conference rivals had not met since 1995, when the Tigers defeated Bucknell for the 10th year in a row. The Bison had been just 1-14 all-time against Towson, with the lone victory coming in Lewisburg in 1985, when the two teams were co-ECC champions.
Bucknell fell behind 3-1 in this one but closed the first half on a 7-2 run. Nick Marks (Barrington, Ill./Salisbury School), who had two goals on the evening, tied the game at 3-all and Doug Buckley (Wantagh, N.Y./Chaminade) put the Bison ahead 4-3.
It was a 5-5 game late in the second quarter when the Bison exploded for three quick ones in the final 2:29 of the half. First, Winter fed Mele for a goal, then Winter scored his own unassisted tally just 32 seconds later. Sciubba came up with a big save on Eric Boyle, then with just 13 seconds remaining Mele scored off a feed from Buckley to make it an 8-5 game at the half.
Tim Stratton opened the second-half scoring for Towson, but Marks and Mele scored in succession to give Bucknell the first four-goal lead of the night at 10-6.
Randall Cooper's goal with just one second left in the third quarter gave the Tigers some life, however, and with 9:43 to play Jonathan Engelke scored to bring the hosts within 10-9.
In victories over Fairfield and Lafayette earlier this season, the Bison allowed the opponent to cut into big leads, but they never allowed the tying goal. It was a similar story at Towson, as Sciubba denied Cooper's potential tying attempt, and after a successful clear Winter fed Brandau for a key insurance tally with 7:31 to play.
With 3:26 left, Towson again crept within a single goal at 11-10 on Boyle's unassisted marker, but Tucker won the faceoff, and Winter scored with 2:43 left to make it 12-10. Tucker won another draw, and even though the Bison lost possession twice more, they never allowed another shot.
Bucknell outshot Towson 35-28, won the ground ball battle 37-23 and were successful on 20 of 22 clearing attempts.
Winter's previous scoring high was seven points when he had four goals and three assists against Holy Cross last season. The last Bison to score as many as nine points in a game was Chris Cara in 2005 against Marist. Cara also had three goals and six helpers in that one.
The nine points and six assists are both tied for the second-highest single-game totals in Division I lacrosse this season.
Bucknell will be back on the road on Saturday, traveling to Patriot League-rival Holy Cross for a 1 p.m. contest in Worcester, Mass.
