Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Colgate
Bucknell Men?s Lax Suffers First Loss of 2016, 11-10 in OT at Colgate
2/27/2016 3:55:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
HAMILTON, N.Y. – Bucknell's first loss of 2016 was a heartbreaker, 11-10 in overtime at Colgate on Saturday afternoon at Crown Field at Andy Kerr Stadium. The 20th-ranked Bison battled back from a 10-8 deficit in the fourth quarter, but the Raiders won it on an Eric Foote goal with 2:14 left in the first overtime period.
Will Sands led the Bison (3-1) with two goals and two assists, and Kyle Shanahan and Sean Doyle also scored twice apiece. Bucknell got out to a great start, leading 4-1 at the end of the first quarter and 5-1 after a rocket from Sean O'Brien early in the second.
Colgate (2-1), the defending Patriot League champion, responded with four straight goals to tie it up at 5-all at intermission, setting up a back-and-forth second half. Doyle put the Bison ahead 6-5, but back-to-back tallies from Anthony Abbadessa and Joe Delaney gave the Raiders their first lead of the day.
Sands and Shanahan scored less than two minutes apart to put the Bison back on top. Jack Stebbins tied it at 8-8, and then after a Bucknell turnover while trying to play for the last shot of the third quarter, Chase Wittich scored with 10 seconds remaining to make it 9-8 Colgate.
The Raiders went up by two for the first time on another Wittich goal at 13:57 of the fourth quarter, but this time it was the Bison who rallied. Thomas Flibotte struck with a great shot from the left flank just 1:20 after the Wittich goal to pull them within one, and then Sands came from behind the cage with a defender draped all over him and tied it with 10:25 to go.
After a couple of good saves by backup goalie Brac McKee, the Bison had a final shot to win it at the end of regulation, but Tommy O'Connor saw his shot go wide of the cage, and Colgate won the race to the right corner to get possession with six seconds to go. A length-of-field pass was broken up, and the game headed to overtime.
Sam Hahn won the overtime faceoff, but Colgate got possession back when goalie Brandon Burke intercepted a pass intended for Sands behind the goal. Burke shot the ball the length of the field toward an open goal against Bucknell's 10-man ride, and the Raiders backed it up on the end line. After a timeout, Foote rolled from the right side to the top and fired home a left-handed shot to win it for Colgate.
The Raiders finished with a 47-31 shot advantage and led 31-26 in ground balls and 13-12 in faceoffs. Bucknell got a combined 17 saves from its two goalies. Christian Klipstein started and stopped four shots in the first half, and then McKee made 13 saves in the second half, including seven in the fourth quarter.
Matt Gilray had another huge game for the Bison with nine ground balls and three caused turnovers. Alex Spring tacked on four more ground balls.
Abbadessa led Colgate with four goals, followed by Foote and Wittich with two apiece.
After playing three straight games on the road, the Bison return home to face Navy next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.
