Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Men's Lacrosse Claims Big Patriot League Win at Army, 8-6
4/4/2009 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 4, 2009
WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Senior attackman Joe Mele (Westbury, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) matched his career high with five goals, senior Nick Sciubba (Sea Cliff, N.Y./Salisbury School) made 12 saves and sophomore Jake Clarke (Cos Cob, Conn./Greenwich) and another huge day at the faceoff mark, leading Bucknell to an important 8-6 road win over Army on Saturday at Michie Stadium. With the victory, the Bison jumped over the .500 mark for the first time all year at 6-5, and more importantly they remained in a first-place tie with Colgate atop the Patriot League standings at 4-0.
Bucknell clinched one of the four Patriot League Tournament berths with the win, and the Bison remain in contention to host the tournament if they can win the regular-season title.
The key sequence came right at the end of the first half, when Bucknell erased a 4-3 deficit by scoring twice in the last 35 seconds. Mele scored a terrific behind-the-back goal off of one of two assists on the day by Austin Winter (Boonton Twp., N.J./Mountain Lakes). Then Clarke won the faceoff and Tim Brandau (Owings Mills, Md./McDonogh) scored again with just three-tenths of a second left to give the Bison a 5-4 lead at the half.
Bucknell then outscored Army 3-0 in the third quarter to go up 8-4, and the Bison would not surrender another goal until the Black Knights put two past Sciubba in the final 2:06 of the contest.
The Bison had a big time-of-possession advantage thanks to Clarke. The nation's seventh-ranked faceoff man won 13 of the 17 draws and collected a career-high nine ground balls. Clarke was 6-for-7 at the X in the second half.
Mele, who also had a five-goal game in the season-opener against Duke, broke a scoreless tie at the 6:14 mark of the first quarter. Army (5-6, 1-3) got the next two scores to go ahead for the first time, and the two teams traded goals throughout the second quarter until Mele and Brandau stuck in rapid succession in the final minute.
These two teams had played one-goal games in nine of the last 11 meetings, and it appeared headed that way again until Bucknell's big third period. The Bison attempted only five shots in the period, but they got three of them past Tom Palesky, the Patriot League save percentage leader coming in. Bucknell took the first multi-goal lead of the day 3:46 into the third period when Brandau fed freshman Nick Gantsoudes (Redding, Conn./Avon Old Farms) in front for a 6-4 edge.
Less than four minutes later a Sciubba save led to a fastbreak opportunity, and defensive middie John Togneri (Longmeadow, Mass./Loomis-Chaffee) fed Mele for a quick strike and a 7-4 lead. With 4:02 left in the third, Mele ran by a defender and scored his fifth of the day to make it 8-4.
Bucknell committed 10 of its 22 turnovers in the fourth quarter, but Sciubba and the defense held strong. Sciubba made five of his 12 saves in the final period. Army finally ended a scoring drought of more than 31 minutes when Brooks Korvin scored with 2:06 remaining in regulation. The Bison won the faceoff but turned it over, and at the 1:10 mark Kevin LoRusso scored off a Jason Peyer assist to make it 8-6.
Clarke won another big faceoff, and the two teams traded turnovers before time expired.
Bucknell has now won four straight over Army, its longest winning streak in the 31-game series.
Army finished with a 33-30 shot advantage, including a 13-2 margin in the fourth quarter after the Bison outshot the Black Knights 28-20 over the first 45 minutes. Bucknell had a 30-20 edge in ground balls and completed 22 of 25 clears.
Mele's five goals give him 20 on the season and 95 in his career. He moved into sixth place on Bucknell's career goals list, one ahead of Dennis Geraghty. He is two goals shy of moving into the top five on the list and five away from becoming the fourth player in school history with 100 career goals. Mele has now scored 20 or more goals in all four seasons at Bucknell.
Winter's two assists against Army give him 82 in his career, tying him with Jon Romm for third on Bucknell's all-time list.
Bucknell next hosts Penn State on Tuesday night at 7:30 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, then the Bison finish the regular season with two more big Patriot League games against Lehigh and Colgate. The Patriot League Tournament will be Apr. 24 and 26 at the home of the highest seed.
