Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Penn State
No. 9 Bucknell Men's Lacrosse Upset by Penn State, 8-7
4/15/2008 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 15, 2008
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Andrew Mackrides and Chris Mulqueen scored two late goals and goalie Drew Adams made a game-saving stop with six seconds to play, leading Penn State to an 8-7 upset of No. 9 Bucknell on Tuesday night at Jeffrey Field.
Austin Winter (Boonton Twp., N.J./Mountain Lakes) and Tim Brandau (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh) both registered two goals and an assist for the Bison, who fell to 9-3 after seeing their four-game winning streak come to an end.
Bucknell, which equaled its highest national ranking ever this week, had three different two goal leads in this one, but the Bison left State College regretting two empty-net goals and two late turnovers that helped Penn State steal the win in the final minutes.
Bucknell led 5-3 at the half after a big second quarter. The Bison outshot the Nittany Lions 16-2 and outscored them 4-1 in that period, and it might have been more if not for six saves by Adams, who would later play an unlikely offensive role for Penn State.
Just after Charley Henneghen scored for Penn State to make it 4-3, Rick Carolan (Wellesley, Mass./St. Sebastians) won the faceoff and fed Winter for a goal with 53 seconds left in the half.
It was still a two-goal lead at 6-4 after a tally from Ryan Klipstein (Califon, N.J./Rutgers Prep) off a feed from Brandau at 8:51 of the third, but Penn State got the next two to tie it.
In the final minute of the third quarter, Adams solved Bucknell's 10-man ride all by himself by firing a shot the length of the field into an empty net, cutting the lead to 6-5.
Bucknell goalie Nick Sciubba (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Salisbury School) made three saves in the first eight minutes of the fourth quarter to preserve the lead, but the Nittany Lions finally tied it on an unassisted goal from Rob Forster with 6:47 to play.
Less than two minutes later freshman Mike Danylyshyn (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) replied with an unassisted tally of his own, and the Bison had the lead back with 4:53 to play.
Sciubba made three more big saves, but a pair of failed clears proved costly for Bucknell. First, Mackrides picked up a loose ball near midfield, and with Sciubba downfield he scored into a vacated net with 2:05 left. After another turnover on the heels of a Sciubba save, Mulqueen scored off an assist from Max VanArsdale with 1:34 to play.
Bucknell is an 84-percent clearing team on the season, one of the best figures in the nation, and had been 20-for-22 on the night before the two costly turnovers late in the game.
Now faced with a deficit for the first time since it was 2-1, Bucknell won the faceoff and got a break when Penn State received a 30-second penalty with 42 seconds left. The Lions took the ball away and killed the penalty, but Bucknell forced a turnover of its own and was in perfect position to tie the game until Adams denied Brandau from point-blank range with just six seconds to play.
Adams finished with 14 saves, while Sciubba had 13 in the Bison cage. Penn State outshot Bucknell 34-30 and also had advantages in ground balls (35-24) and faceoffs (12-7).
Mackrides and Henneghan scored twice each for the Nittany Lions, who handed coach Glenn Thiel his 300th career victory.
Danylyshyn had a man-up goal in the second quarter and how has four straight multi-point games. Winter hit the 40-point mark for the second straight season, while Brandau reached the 30-point plateau for the second year in a row.
Despite the disappointing loss, Bucknell did receive some good news on Tuesday night, as Army defeated Lafayette 12-4. That means the Bison can clinch the No. 1 seed for the Patriot League Tournament with a victory at home against Colgate on Saturday night.
It will be Senior Night at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, with the opening faceoff slated for 8 p.m.
