Bucknell University
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Dartmouth
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Men's Lacrosse Captures Home Opener Over Dartmouth, 15-13
2/17/2024 3:33:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse
LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell men's lacrosse team led wire to wire and earned its first win of the season, 15-13, over Dartmouth at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium Saturday afternoon. The Bison have now won 12 consecutive home openers and improved to 1-2 on the young campaign with its best offensive showing.
The Bison raced to an early 5-0 lead, with sophomore Will Hopkins scoring three of his career-high five goals in the first four minutes of the contest. Dartmouth was able to cut the deficit to a single goal on two occasions, including a late 6-2 run in the second half that cut Bucknell's lead to 14-13 with just under five minutes to play. Connor Davis put the game on ice, scoring his third goal of the game with 1:19 to go to grow Bucknell's lead to 15-13.
4Q, 1:19 | HUGE diving goal for Davis! He gets the hatty in a crucial spot! Bison lead by 2 with under a minute to go! @PatriotLeagueTV@ESPN https://t.co/RL0YE2K3RQ pic.twitter.com/CJDiFXaNtG
— Bucknell Men's Lax (@Bucknell_MLAX) February 17, 2024
The Bison led 44-32 in shots and capitalized on one of their three man-up opportunities. Brendan Coyle went 50 percent on faceoffs, and Max Nolan got the win in the cage with eight saves made. Dartmouth also made eight saves in a game that was played fairly even after a Bucknell-dominated first quarter.
Bucknell's pressure was on early and often in the first, as it outshot the Big Green 18-4 for the period, registered a 12-5 advantage in ground balls and won eight of 10 draws. Bucknell's five-goal scoring burst all took place in the span of less than three minutes. Hopkins scored on back-to-back possessions at the 13:22 and 12:41 marks to give the Bison a 2-0 lead, then Chris Begier got in on the action at 12:32. Hopkins scored again at 11:39 to make it 4-0, and freshman Hans Huber scored his first career goal at 10:43 to cap the run. Huber ended up with two goals in the contest.
Doolan assisted on two of Hopkins' early goals. Seven other Bison tallied assists in the game.
Dartmouth had possession just once during the 5-0 Bison run, but turned it over right after taking the faceoff.
Dartmouth's ensuing timeout was well-spent, as the Big Green outscored the Bison 3-1 the rest of the opening quarter. Dartmouth scored three times on its first four shot attempts, leading to Nolan taking over at goalie.
Davis scored one minute into the second, but Dartmouth responded with three unanswered to get within a goal of tying at 7-6. Doolan and Huber scored on back-to-back possessions in the final minutes of the half to give Bucknell a 9-6 lead heading into the locker rooms.
Both teams put together 3-0 runs in the second half, while shot attempts, ground balls and goals stayed even in the third. The two teams traded punches throughout the final 15 minutes until Dartmouth scored back-to-back with five minutes to play to get within a goal of tying. Bison head coach Frank Fedorjaka took a timeout with 4:50 to play, and the Bison regrouped. Nolan made one more crucial save with 2:49 to play on what ended up being Dartmouth's final shot on goal in the game.
Dutch Furlong, who ended the game with two points, assisted on Davis' victory-clinching score with just over a minute left.
Coyle ended up with a season-high nine ground balls, while Will Pickering and Luke Brunner both supplied four. Four different Bison registered two caused turnover. Davis now has two hat tricks on the season, totaling 10 goals. Hopkins is the second Bison to score five goals in a game this year.
Bucknell travels to Wilton, Conn. next Saturday to face Harvard in a neutral-site game at Wilton High School. The contest is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
