Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Army
Bucknell Lax Season Ends with 9-7 PL Tourney Loss to Army
4/30/2010 8:00:00 AM | Men's Lacrosse
April 30, 2010
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Bucknell dominated the faceoffs and ground balls, but No. 1 seed Army rallied to score the final four goals of the day to deal the Bison a 9-7 defeat in a Patriot League Tournament semifinal game Friday at sun-drenched Michie Stadium. Jake Clarke had a monster day for the Bison, winning 16 of 19 faceoffs with 12 ground balls, but Tyler Seymour scored four second-half goals to carry the Black Knights into Sunday's championship game.
Ryan Klipstein scored twice for the Bison (8-6), who scored the game's first four goals and led 5-2 at the half. Army (9-5), which won the Patriot League regular-season title with a 6-0 record, rallied to tie the game at 5-all by the end of the third quarter, but Bucknell jumped back ahead 7-5 with two quick goals to start the fourth quarter. The Bison appeared to tire later in the final period, however, and Seymour scored three in a row to put Army up with five minutes to play.
An empty-net goal from Rob McCallion with 1:54 left prevented this from becoming the 11th one-goal game in the last 15 Bucknell-Army games. Bucknell's first five losses this season came by one goal, and it finished with six losses by a total of seven goals.
Bucknell won the ground ball battle 37-18 and captured 16 of 20 faceoffs, but 10 second-half turnovers and the standout play of Army goalie Tom Palesky balanced that out. Palesky finished with 17 saves, and the Black Knights committed only 11 turnovers in the game.
Bucknell had a significant time-of-possession edge in the first half thanks to the work of Clarke at the faceoff X. Clarke won 8 of 9 in the half, and Bucknell was able to launch the first 10 shots of the game before the Black Knights even had their first offensive possession.
Klipstein put the Bison in front 1:41 into the game when he nabbed the long rebound of a Palesky kick save and fired it back in. It remained 1-0 until the 5:55 mark of the opening period, when Billy Eisenreich used a split dodge to evade two defenders, and as he was stumbling to the ground he bounced a shot past Palesky. Later in the quarter Bucknell got a third goal from a midfielder when Gantsoudes beat a defender and walked in from the left side before planting a shot in the upper right corner of the cage.
Clarke won the opening draw of the second period, and that led to Austin Winter's tally 2:45 into the stanza. On a very similar maneuver to his overtime goal against Colgate last week that put the Bison into the playoffs, Winter came from behind the net and used an inside roll to clear space for a point-blank shot.
Army got on the board about two minutes later when Jeremy Boltus scored from a sharp angle to the left of the goal. Devin Lynch made it 4-2 with 4:45 left in the half on a shot from five yards out on the right side.
Klipstein finished the first-half scoring with 3:34 left. He took a pass from Tim Brandau, spun away from his man and sent a shot through Palesky's legs that just trickled across the goal line.
The story of the third quarter was Bucknell turnovers and the red-hot play of Palesky. The Bison turned the ball over six times in the period and Palesky made four saves, including a point-blank stop on Klipstein late in the quarter.
Clarke won the first two faceoffs of the third quarter, but the Bison turned it over both times before getting its offense set. That led to Army goals from Garret Thul and Sean O'Sullivan 1:10 apart, drawing the Black Knights within 5-4.
Army tied it with 55 seconds left in the third quarter on a one-timer by Seymour off a feed from Lynch.
Bucknell reclaimed the momentum with a great start to the fourth quarter. Just 53 seconds into the period Chris Palmer ducked in from the right side and beat Palesky with a diving shot. Only 64 seconds later, Charlie Streep changed directions to elude a pair of Army defenders and ripped a shot from 15 yards out to make it a 7-5 game.
Clarke then cleanly won the faceoff and while attacking the goal drew a penalty after being hogtied around the neck. But the Bison turned the ball over trying to feed it into traffic, and the Black Knights turned it into a Seymour fastbreak goal with 12:06 left.
Just over a minute later Boltus fed Seymour on the left side and the game was tied again at 7-all. After numerous trades of possession Seymour scored the go-ahead goal when he circled in from behind the crease with 4:59 to play.
Clarke won yet another faceoff, but the Bison caught a bad break when Eisenreich's shot deflected off a defender and veered toward the sideline, and Army was able to win the race to the line. The Black Knights cleared, and with goalie Kyle Feeney out chasing the ball, McCallion gathered a rolled pass from Boltus and scored into the empty net.
This was the third straight year that Bucknell and Army met in the semifinals, with the Bison winning in 2008 and 2009.
Clarke's 12 ground balls were one shy of his own school record, and he became the sole owner of Bucknell's career faceoff wins record with 312. He came into the game tied with Ryan Goodman, who had 300 from 2002-05. In four career games taking faceoffs against Army, he is now an incredible 50-for-64.
Six Bison seniors played their final career game, and they will graduate as the winningest class in program history (38). Winter's goal gave him 194 career points, the fourth-highest total in program history. Brandau's 90 career goals rank ninth all-time.
