Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Fairfield
Another Dramatic Win for Men's Lax, 10-9 over Fairfield
3/10/2015 6:14:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell's season of dramatic finishes continued on Tuesday at rainy Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, as Ryan Joseph scored the tiebreaking goal with 1:51 to play and freshman goalie Brac McKee made a brilliant save from point-blank range with four seconds left to preserve a 10-9 victory over visiting Fairfield.
The Bison are now 4-2 on the season, with the six contests decided by a total of eight goals. Joseph had just scored the game-winner in overtime in Bucknell's win at Lehigh on Saturday, and he came through again with a highlight-reel score late in regulation. David Dickson, who had four assists in the game, skipped a pass to Joseph on the right wing. The senior middie wound up, then made a move around a frozen defender before burying a shot in the upper left corner of the cage.
Alex Spring nabbed his eighth ground ball of the game on the ensuing faceoff, but the Bison could not get the ball into the box in time and turned it over. The Stags thought they had the equalizer with 40 seconds left when Colin McLinden scored with a diving shot, but the goal was waved off on a crease violation. A Bison defender was flagged for a push after McLinden went airborne, so Fairfield earned a 30-second EMO to try to get the game even.
T.J. Neubauer sent a shot wide with 20 seconds left, and then just as the penalty expired the Stags set up a wonderful look for Tristan Sperry in front of the goal. Sperry took a pass from McLinden, spun away from a defenseman and sidearmed a shot from four yards out. McKee, who had entered the game in the second quarter with the Bison trailing 5-2, was well-positioned for the save.
Bucknell was called for a loose-ball push in the scrum, giving Fairfield one final chance with four seconds left. After the re-start, Jake Knostman fired a shot from distance that missed the goal to the left as time expired.
Playing a mid-week game sandwiched between two critical Patriot League contests, Bucknell received contributions from some different faces in this one. Attackman Alex Ryan came into the game with one goal on the season, but he scored three against the Stags. None were prettier than his third-quarter tally from his hands and knees after he had been knocked down from behind. That goal tied the game at 7-7 just moments after Fairfield had taken the lead, and it was set up by freshman faceoff man Jake Dunlop, who won a clean draw, streaked into the box and found Ryan seven yards from the goal.
Dunlop had taken only one draw all season coming into the game, but he went 5-for-8 in this one and secured his first career point with the assist on Ryan's goal. McKee was making his second career appearance and first since playing about six minutes in the season-opener at Delaware. Here he made six saves while allowing only four goals in his 35 minutes.
McKee entered just after Fairfield went up 5-2 on Neubauer's goal with 5:48 left in the second quarter. Just after the change, Bucknell scored three times in a span of just 1:55 to draw even at the half.
Thomas Flibotte started the run with his second goal of the day, and 1:04 later Joseph scored off a feed from Dickson. Just 51 seconds after that, Dickson brought the ball in from the top of the box, slipped a pass through traffic to Ryan, who made a tough catch and scored from the slot while absorbing a big hit.
That tied the game at 5-5, and then just 1:15 into the second half Bucknell earned its first lead of the day when Will Sands scored in transition off an assist from Sean Doyle. The sequence was started by a nice trail check from Ryan on a ride, with Flibotte picking up the ground ball and starting the fastbreak the other way.
Fairfield bounced back quickly, scored twice with a man advantage to take a 7-6 lead. Ryan tied it with his goal from the prone position, and Doyle have the Bison the advantage again at 8:51 of the third quarter on a rip from the left side off a pass from Joseph.
Knostman scored in the final minute to make it 8-8 after three quarters, but it was Doyle again for Bucknell with 10:14 remaining, this time with an unassisted score coming out from the left corner after he chased down an errant pass.
Drew Federico picked out a curling Neubauer for the tying goal with 7:27 left, and it remained 9-9 until Joseph's heroics in the final two minutes.
The loss dropped Fairfield to 2-4 on the season, but all four setbacks have been by one goal. The Stags, who are coached by former Bucknell all-conference midfielder Andy Copelan '03, were coming off a 7-6 overtime loss to sixth-ranked Yale on Saturday.
Bucknell outshot Fairfield 36-30 for the game, while the Stags won the ground balls 28-23 and the faceoffs 13-10. The Bison forced 17 turnovers and held Fairfield to 10-for-16 clearing efficiency.
Sperry and Neubauer led Fairfield with two goals, and Charlie Schnider had a goal and three assists. Doyle, Joseph and Flibotte all had two goals to go along with Ryan's hat trick. Dickson now has 12 points in three games since returning from injury after notching four assists against Fairfield. Joseph ran his season goal total up to 14, matching his career total coming into the year.
Spring recorded eight ground balls for the second straight game, and he now has a team-high 35 on the season. Only a junior, Spring also moved into Bucknell's career top-10 list, as he jumped past four players into seventh place all-time with 145 GBs.
Bucknell returns to action on Saturday at 1 p.m. against 20th-ranked Holy Cross at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Bucknell, Holy Cross and Colgate are all tied for first in the Patriot League at 2-1. The game will air live on the Patriot League Network.
