Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Mount St. Mary's
Men's Lax Rides Dominant Second Half to 15-10 Win over Mount St. Mary's
4/8/2016 9:58:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- An eight-goal showing from the first midfield line and a record-setting performance by freshman faceoff man Jarett Witzal carried the Bucknell men's lacrosse team to a 15-10 victory over Mount St. Mary's in a non-conference game Friday night at chilly Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. The Bison scored the final seven goals of the game and outscored the Mountaineers 9-2 in the second half to improve to 7-4 on the season.
Thomas Flibotte recorded a season-high four goals as well as an assist, Kyle Shanahan added a season-high three goals with an assist, and Tommy O'Connor tallied a goal and an assist as Bucknell's midfield turned in its most productive outing of the year. Attackman Will Sands also had a big night with four goals and two assists, his third game this season with six or more points, and Sean Doyle produced two goals and an assist.
But the story of the night was the play of the rookie Witzal, who broke the Bucknell single-game record for faceoff wins in a 21-for-27 night at the X. Witzal, who added six ground balls, won 10 of the first 11 draws in the second half to spark Bucknell's comeback.
The previous team record for faceoff wins in a game was 20, set by Jake Clarke in a 20-for-21 performance against Penn State in 2009.
Mount St. Mary's, which was coming off a 19-goal performance in a win over Sacred Heart, received six goals and an assist from Chris DiPretoro. He had five of those goals along with the assist in a wild first half.
It was a game of runs, as Bucknell got out to a 4-1 lead after a tricky little scoop shot by Quinn Collison off a Doyle feed at the 6:43 mark of the opening quarter. Mount St. Mary's rallied to tie the game at 4-4, with DiPretoro scoring twice and assisting on another goal in the 3-0 run. Shanahan finished off a nine-goal opening period with an unassisted tally with 1:16 left.
Early in the second quarter Sands scored on a quick restart after Mount St. Mary's went offsides on a clear. but the Mountaineers tallied the final four goals of the half to go up 8-6 at intermission. It might have been a three-goal margin, but goalie Frankie McCarthy's length-of-the-field heave in the final few seconds skittered through traffic in front of the crease and bounced off the left post.
Bucknell came out of the locker room with renewed energy and quickly tied the game. Shanahan beat a defender along the right flank for a goal just 43 seconds into the third quarter. Less than three minutes later Mount St. Mary's was flagged three different times on one play, and Doyle fired home a shot on the 6-on-3 advantage.
The Mount regained a two-goal lead when Bubba Johnson and DiPretoro scored 13 seconds apart, the latter coming directly off a rare faceoff win. Their advantage was short-lived, however, as Bucknell scored three times in the final 5:07 of the period to take the lead back for good.
O'Connor scored from a sharp angle off a Shanahan feed, then O'Connor picked out Doyle for another rip from the left side. Shanahan made it 11-10 Bison with his third unassisted tally of the night, coming with 1:27 left in the third.
Flibotte took over the game in the fourth quarter, scoring three straight times in a span of just 2:59. The last of them was one for the highlight reel, as Flibotte was collared around the neck by his opponent's stick but managed to power through him anyway, then he fired a shot to the top corner to make it 14-10 with 9:32 to go.
Sands finished off the scoring on another restart with 1:16 left, and the Bison had a hard-fought victory against a hot team that came in with a 5-3 record.
Bucknell finished with a 36-34 shot advantage and a 32-24 edge in ground balls. Alex Spring picked up a game-high eight ground balls, giving him 60 this season and 245 in his career. He needs one more GB to move into the top 10 on the Patriot League career list. He already ranks No. 2 in Bucknell history, trailing only Clarke, who had 297 from 2008-11.
Fellow long-stick defensive midfielder Matt Gilray also had a big night with four ground balls and three caused turnovers.
The Bison struggled with turnovers early in the game, committing 10 in the first half. But they had just four in the second half and finished 10-for-14 on clears.
Doyle jumped into the Bucknell top-10 list for career goals. He now has 91, surpassing Tim Brandau for the No. 10 spot in school history. Doyle also moved into a four-way tie for fouth place on the career points list with 143.
Christian Klipstein made four of his seven saves in the fourth quarter, and he allowed six goals in 46:34 of action. Brac McKee also saw time in the second quarter and made two saves with four goals against. McCarthy finished with six stops for the Mount, who fell to 0-10 all-time in Lewisburg.
Bucknell has two games remaining in the regular season, both at home against in-state Patriot League rivals. The Bison will host Lafayette next Friday night, followed by Lehigh on Apr. 22.
