Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Notre Dame
Second-Half Rally Lifts No. 4 Notre Dame Past Bucknell Men's Lax, 10-6
3/12/2009 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
March 12, 2009
NORTH BETHESDA, Md. - Fourth-ranked Notre Dame scored eight second-half goals to come from behind and defeat Bucknell on Thursday afternoon in a non-league men's lacrosse game played before a large crowd on the campus of Georgetown Preparatory School. Joe Mele and Perry Menzies scored two goals apiece and Austin Winter had a goal and two assists for the Bison, who fell to 1-4 on the season, with three of the four losses coming against nationally ranked teams and the other coming to a still-unbeaten team in Hobart.
Goalie Nick Sciubba was terrific for the Bison, making 10 of his career-high 16 saves in the first half. Bucknell led 3-2 at the half and 4-2 early in the third period, but trouble in the clearing game finally caught up to the Bison, and Notre Dame (5-0) scored four straight goals to take the lead for good.
Notre Dame, which had already beaten Loyola, Penn State, Dartmouth and North Carolina, received three goals from Zach Brenneman and two goals and two assists from Neal Hicks. Fighting Irish goalie Scott Rodgers also had a strong game with eight of his 11 saves coming in the second half.
Winter bounced in a shot from the left side at the 8:49 mark of the first quarter, and it remained a 1-0 game into the second period. Sciubba had seven saves before he yielded his first goal of the day, including a spectacular two-save flurry in the first minute of the second quarter. Grant Krebs finally got one past Sciubba 17:42 into the game on a pass from Hicks behind the cage.
The Bison tallied the next two scores. First, Mele finished a Tim Brandau feed for a 2-1 lead, then the Bucknell ride set up a goal. Rodgers got stripped near midfield, Winter picked up the ground ball and fed Mike Danylyshyn, who scored before Rodgers could scramble back to his crease.
Brenneman's extra-man goal 2:29 before halftime brought Notre Dame within 3-2, but senior midfielder Perry Menzies got going for the Bison in the second half. Menzies had been scoreless through Bucknell's first four games, but his laser shot on the run just 43 seconds into the second half restored the two-goal cushion.
But a mistake on a clear about two minutes later proved to be a turning point in the game. The Bison defense had just come up with a stop, but a bad pass on the clear left the ball sitting on the ground 15 yards in front of their own net. Hicks scooped it up and walked in for a big momentum-turning goal. A Bucknell penalty followed, and Hicks scored again right on the doorstep to make it 4-4.
Brenneman scored with a hard lefty shot to put Notre Dame ahead for the first time all day at the 6:31 mark of the third quarter, then long-pole Andrew Irving walked in from almost midfield and scored just over a minute later to make it 6-4.
Menzies and Duncan Swezey swapped goals 36 seconds apart later in the quarter, and Notre Dame took a 7-5 lead into the final stanza.
A nice diagonal feed from Winter to Mele for a slam dunk brought Bucknell within 7-6 with 9:47 to play, and Jake Clarke won the ensuing faceoff. The Bison turned it over, however, when Winter's pass to a cutter missed the mark and skipped out of bounds.
Crease attackman Ryan Hoff, who had been quieted all day, finally broke through on Notre Dame's ensuing possession, finishing a Swezey pass with a quick-stick from in close. Bucknell tried to answer, but Mele lost the ball on a shot attempt at the top of the box, and Notre Dame countered with a fastbreak goal with pole Mike Creighton passing to Hoff for a 9-6 lead.
Brenneman finished his hat trick with 37 seconds left to make it 10-6.
Bucknell had more faceoffs (10-8) and ground balls (37-30), but turnover problems led to a 43-29 shot advantage for the Fighting Irish. The Bison were just 14-for-22 on clear attempts, with five of the failed clears coming while trying to protect the lead.
Michael Cooke led the Bison with six ground balls, while Clarke and Billy Haire had five each.
This was just the second game ever played between Bucknell and Notre Dame, with the other a 12-7 Irish win in the 2001 NCAA Tournament.
The Bison now have a short turnaround before traveling to Patriot League-rival Lafayette on Saturday at 1 p.m.
