Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Lafayette
Men's Lax Clinches Playoff Berth with 14-13 Win over Lafayette
4/11/2015 9:39:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
FOLSOM, Pa. -- Senior attackman Alex Ryan scored the tiebreaking goal with 23 seconds left in regulation, sending the Bucknell men's lacrosse team to a wild 14-13 victory over Lafayette on Saturday night at Ridley High School in the featured game of HEADstrong's 3rd Annual Relentless Cup. With the victory, the Bison improved to 7-5 overall, 4-3 in the Patriot League, and they clinched a berth in the Patriot League Tournament.
Sean Doyle, Thomas Flibotte and Will Sands all recorded hat tricks for the Bison, who led 10-4 in the third quarter but then had to hold off a furious Lafayette rally. Bucknell snapped a three-game losing streak, while the Leopards' three-game winning streak came to an end.
Doyle and Sands scored late in the second quarter to give the Bison a 7-4 lead at halftime. Kyle Shanahan, Flibotte and Doyle stretched the run to 5-0, and the score to 10-4, by the 8:46 mark of the third period.
But Eric Joseph scored nine seconds after the Doyle tally, igniting a four-goal Lafayette run in span of just 5:25 late in the third quarter. Bucknell was able to extend the lead back to four at 13-9 after a goal by Sands with just 4:05 left in the game, but once again the Leopards stormed back, this time tying the game with four goals in 2:12.
After Joseph's man-up goal made it 13-11 with 2:58 remaining, Bucknell won the faceoff but turned the ball over before it could settle into possession. Brian Bock scored with 1:31 left to make it 13-12, and then Will McCarthy scored right off the faceoff at 1:15 to tie the game at 13-all.
Bucknell then sent long-stick defensive midfielder Alex Spring to the faceoff X for the first time all night, and he won the draw. The Bison melted the clock under 30 seconds before Ryan came from behind the goal and fired a sharp-angle shot past Ben Falcone for the go-ahead score.
Lafayette won the faceoff and got one shot off with five seconds left, but it went wide. On the restart from behind the cage, defenseman Ben Kellar smothered Jason Sands, and the Leopards could not get a final shot launched.
Sam Grinberg tallied 12 saves for the Bison, who forced 18 turnovers and won the ground ball battle 32-26. Bucknell took eight penalties, which led to four EMO goals for Lafayette, while the Bison converted on Lafayette's only penalty of the game. Shots were even at 32-apiece.
Will Sands also handed out an assist for a four-point night for the Bison. His cousin, Jason Sands, had six assists for Lafayette. The Leopards' Eric Joseph, who is the younger brother of Bison middie Ryan Joseph, also had six points with five goals and an assist.
David Dickson added a goal and two assists, and Ryan had two goals for the Bison, who snapped a 14-game losing streak when allowing 10 or more goals.This was the first time since a 16-13 win over Colgate in 1994 that Bucknell won when allowing as many as 13 goals.
Spring had another big game with three caused turnovers and five ground balls, in addition to the big faceoff win. Defenseman Brad Dotson and faceoff man Gavin Sullivan also nabbed five ground balls each.
With one game remaining in the regular season, Bucknell is now in a tie for fourth place with Army at 4-3. Colgate and Loyola are 5-3, while Navy is now 6-2 after beating arch-rival Army on Saturday. The Bison host Loyola next Friday night on Senior Night at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The top two seeds receive byes into the Patriot League Tournament semifinals, while the third and fourth seeds earn the right to host quarterfinal games.
