Category: Lacrosse

By Reed Dempsey
Writer

With just two seconds remaining in Friday’s game at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium, Colgate broke a 10-10 tie to send the men’s lacrosse team its second straight league loss.

Bison attackman Chase Bailey ’13 opened the day’s scoring off a pass from Nick Gantsoudes ’12 three and a half minutes in. Just a few minutes later, the Raiders’ Peter Baum scored to tie the game at one.

For the rest of the first half, the Orange and Blue kept their defensemen fresh and limited possessions for Colgate’s nationally top-ranked offense. The Bison exploded for five straight goals before Colgate scored just before the half, cutting the lead to 6-2.

“The whole team played near perfect in the first half,” Kyle Feeney ’13 said. “The offense controlled the ball for most of it, limiting Colgate’s possessions and making it easier on the defense.”

The team struggled in the third quarter as Colgate added four goals to tie the game, three of which came in a span of just 70 seconds. The Raiders took their first lead of the day on another Baum goal early in the fourth quarter and quickly followed with a man-up goal to extend their lead to two.

“I think we were far too comfortable with our lead and we had a few too many turnovers,” said David Dickson ’15, who scored his 14th goal of the season in the second quarter. “We needed to stay poised and limit Colgate’s possessions but unfortunately we were unable to do so.”

After relinquishing their lead, the Bison fought back with goals by Todd Heritage ’14, Bailey and Peter Burke ’14, but shortly thereafter, the Raiders gained possessions and scored back-to-back goals to go up 10-9.

With 2:25 left in the game, Burke tied the game with his second straight goal. On the ensuing faceoff, the Raiders were called for an illegal cross check giving the Bison a minute of extra-man offense and a chance to regain the lead. During this time however, Colgate held the ball in its offensive zone, running down the clock in an effort to get the last shot.

With eight seconds left the Raiders got a shot off but Feeney deflected it off the pipe and out of play. Colgate got possession and with just two seconds left, Baum beat Feeney for his third goal of the game and 51st of the season.

With the loss, the Bison will enter the Patriot League tournament as the fourth seed, creating a rematch tonight against the Raiders in Hamilton, N.Y. According to Feeney and Dickson, the Orange and Blue head into this game with the knowledge that they are good enough to beat any opponent. It will just take 60 minutes of solid lacrosse to make that a reality.

 

By Reed Dempsey
Writer

Tied with 14 seconds remaining on the clock, the men’s lacrosse team suffered a crushing 9-8 defeat at the hands of No. 11 Lehigh this past Saturday in Bethlehem, Pa.

Heading into the game with a 3-1 conference record, the Orange and Blue understood the matchup’s important playoff implications. The winner would remain tied atop the Patriot League standings going into the final week of the season with a chance to host the league tournament.

After four and a half minutes of play, Nick Gantsoudes ’12 opened the day’s scoring with an unassisted goal but the Mountain Hawks gained possession of the ensuing faceoff and tied the game just 23 seconds later.

The Bison regained their lead as Peter Burke ’14 found Billy Eisenreich ’12 with 3:42 left in the first quarter. But what looked to be a 2-1 Bison lead heading into the end of the first quarter ended abruptly as Lehigh tied the game at two apiece with one second remaining.

In the opening five minutes of the second quarter, the Bison found the back of the net twice, extending their lead to 4-2. Burke scored on an unassisted tally at the 14:12 mark followed by a goal from David Dickson ’15, assisted by Gantsoudes.

Lehigh cut the lead to a single goal with one minute remaining in the half, but the Orange and Blue has some last second antics of their own as Eisenreich found Chase Bailey ’13 for his 25th goal of the season and a 5-3 halftime lead.

The Orange and Blue were held scoreless in the third quarter as the Mountain Hawks scored three straight to take their first lead of the day. During this run, extended possessions by Lehigh disrupted the success of the Bison offense.

“Lehigh did a great job of possessing the ball in the second half and that limited our opportunities to get in a flow on offense,” attackman Todd Heritage ’14 said.

According to head coach Frank Fedorjaka, the Mountain Hawks were able to take advantage of mental mistakes during an otherwise strong defensive performance.

“Defensively we played terrific, but we had a few mental lapses and Lehigh capitalized on them,” Fedorjaka said.

After the Bison failed to convert on their first four extra-man opportunities of the game, a cross-checking penalty on Lehigh at the end of the third quarter carried over to the fourth where Eisenreich found Dickson to tie the game at six.

Six minutes later, Burke scored his second goal of the day, giving the Bison their fifth lead of the day, but it only lasted 81 seconds  as the Mountain Hawks once again worked quickly to tie the game.

The Mountain Hawks dominated the faceoff  “x” all afternoon, going 13 for 18. After Eisenreich scored his second of the day and 30th of the year, Lehigh’s Ryan Snyder gained possession on the ensuing faceoff, raced the ball down the field and scored to tie the game at 8-8.

The Bison gained possession on the following faceoff, but a saved shot and turnover gave the Mountain Hawks the ball with three minutes remaining. Lehigh successfully cleared the ball into their offensive zone and were able to maintain possession before converting on a shot with 14 seconds remaining. The defeat brought the Bison’s record to 9-5.

Even with the loss, the Bison qualified for the Patriot League Tournament. They will face No. 11 Colgate tonight in their regular season finale. (Lehigh advanced to No. 10 in this week’s rankings.) Moving into this matchup and the tournament, Fedorjaka has confidence in his team.

“One thing about winning the Patriot League tournament: the team that gets hot at the right time will have the best chance to win it all,” Fedorjaka said. “We are still getting better every week and that is the most important thing. Hopefully we are going to get hot at the right time. I sense that we are.”

The Bison and Colgate face off tonight at 7 p.m. in Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium.

By Reed Dempsey

Writer

The men’s lacrosse team saw its eight-game win streak come to an end after a tightly contested 6-5 double overtime loss to Patriot League rival Army last Saturday. The Orange and Blue were able to rebound from the loss with an 8-3 win against the University of Pennsylvania on Tuesday night.

The Orange and Blue hosted the Black Knights this past Saturday in what would become an instant classic. Going into the matchup, the Bison had faced Army five times over the past three seasons holding a 3-2 advantage, with each game being decided by two goals or less.

Three minutes into the game, the Black Knights opened the day’s scoring with a unassisted tally. The Bison held Army scoreless over the next 15 minutes as David Dickson ’15 found Todd Heritage ’14 to tie the game and Tom Black ’14 took a feed from Ryan Joseph ’15 to give the Bison their first lead of the day.

Just a minute and a half later, the Black Knights responded with a goal of their own to tie the game at two. The Bison had a chance to take back the lead with a man-up opportunity at the three-minute mark in the second quarter, but were unable to capitalize, leaving the score tied heading into halftime.

After play resumed in the second half, Billy Eisenreich ’12 found the back of the net for an unassisted goal with 12:30 remaining in the third quarter. The Bison defense held Army scoreless for another 15-minute stretch before the Black Knights tied the game at three. Heritage broke the tie a minute later with his 32nd goal of the season.

Army scored twice early in the fourth quarter to take its first lead since the opening minutes of the game and had several chances to extend its lead to two, but goalie Kyle Feeney ’13 was there each time for the save.

The Bison gained possession with just over two minutes left in regulation and advanced the ball into their offensive zone. After a wide shot by Dickson, Heritage was pushed from behind as he chased down the ball, giving the Bison a 30-second man-up opportunity. After a bit of trickery following the restart, Eisenreich found a wide open Chase Bailey ’13 on the crease to tie the game at five. The Orange and Blue had a shot with 23 seconds left, but a save by the Army goaltender sent the game to overtime.

Following a scoreless first period of overtime, highlighted by stifling defensive play, the Bison took possession of the ball on the opening faceoff of the second overtime, and immediately threw the ball away, allowing for Army to race the ball down the field where a bounce shot found its way past Feeney for the game-winner.

The Bison welcomed the University of Pennsylvania to Lewisburg on Tuesday night looking to avenge Saturday’s loss. Senior attackman Eisenreich tallied three goals to lead the Bison, bringing his total to 28 on the season.

The Orange and Blue scored the first four goals of the game before the Quakers cut the lead to three with four minutes remaining in the second quarter. With just two seconds left in the first half, Eisenreich found the back of the net on an unassisted goal, his second of the day.

Coming off a solid performance on Saturday, the Bison defense was impressive again on Tuesday as they held the Quakers to just 24 shots.

UPenn scored the only goal of the third quarter, but the Bison responded with two goals early in the fourth quarter extending their lead to five. UPenn ended its 20-minute scoreless streak with 2:33 left in the game, bringing the score to 7-3.

Just thirty seconds later, Eisenreich scored his third goal of the game bringing the score to 8-3, where it would remain until the final whistle. With the win, the Bison moved to 9-4 on the season and 3-1 in Patriot League play.

The Orange and Blue face off tomorrow against Lehigh (10-2) in Bethlehem, Pa. for rights to first place in the Patriot League.

By Reed Dempsey

Writer

 

Holy Cross scored twice in the final five minutes of play to tie the game at nine, but an unassisted score by Peter Burke ’14 with just 22 seconds remaining sealed the eighth win of the season for the men’s lacrosse team this past Saturday in Worcester, Mass, as well as a No. 13 ranking in the national media poll.

Midfielder David Dickson ’15 opened the day’s scoring just a minute and a half into the game as the Bison were able to take advantage of an extra-man opportunity. Two minutes later Dickson fed Todd Heritage ’14 to extend the score to 2-0.

In an effort to slow the nation’s most efficient shooting team, the Crusaders had to limit the time that the Bison had the ball on offense.

“Holy Cross had a week to prepare for this game and they game-planned for us very well,” Dickson said. “They had long possessions on their side of the field which gave our offense limited touches.”

Over the final minutes of the first quarter, the teams traded tallies before the Crusaders cut the deficit to one on a last-second goal. 

The opening eight minutes of the second quarter saw three different Bison find the back of the net, as Chase Bailey ’13, John Scally ’12 and Billy Eisenreich ’12 brought the lead to 6-2. The Crusaders defense then held the Bison scoreless over the next 28 minutes, as their offense slowly chipped away at the lead. With 33 seconds left in the third quarter, the Crusaders tied the game at six on a man-up opportunity.

A penalty on Holy Cross with less than 10 minutes left in the game gave the Bison an opportunity to regain the lead. Eisenreich found Heritage to put the Bison up 7-6. Holy Cross tied the game at seven just 32 seconds later, but the second goals of the day by Dickson and Billy Mattimore ’13 gave a two-goal advantage in favor of the Bison with just under six minutes in regulation.

Holy Cross fought back over the next four minutes to tie the game for the third time. The Crusaders had possession and a chance to take the lead for the first time, but an errant shot gave the Bison possession. The Orange and Blue were able to successfully clear the ball to their offensive side of the field before taking a timeout. Burke was then able to find the back of the net to return the Bison lead to one.

The Crusaders won the ensuing faceoff and raced into the offensive zone for a shot, but Kyle Feeney ’13 was right there for the save, his 13th of the game.

Following the win, the Bison moved up to No. 13 in the national media poll and No. 15 in the coaches poll. They were ranked No. 16 in both polls last week.

After the hard-fought win, the Bison now turn their attention to tomorrow’s game against Army. Army is 4-6, but five of its six losses have come against teams ranked top-20 nationally.

“Although their record may not show it, Army is a very capable team and one that is definitely good enough to end our winning streak,” Dickson said. “We will need to match their intensity and physicality in order to be successful and come out of this game with a victory.”

The game is set to begin at 12 p.m. Saturday at Christy Matthewson-Memorial Stadium and will air on the CBS Sports Network.

 

 

By Reed Dempsey

Contributing Writer

Heading into spring break, the Bison stood at 1-3 and were in desperate need of a string of wins that would help turn the season around. Playing Hobart, Drexel, Lafayette and Robert Morris over the past two weeks, the Orange and Blue were able to accomplish just this, reeling off four victories to place them back into the top 20 nationally.

Coming off their first win at Navy on March 3, the Bison looked to extend their streak as they faced Hobart at home on March 10. After a close quarter and half of play, the Orange and Blue exploded for four straight goals to take a 9-5 lead before halftime. The Bison were led by attackman Todd Heritage ’14, who tallied eight goals to tie a school record. Strong offensive performances by Chase Bailey ’13 (two goals, two assists), Billy Eisenreich ’12 (one goal, three assists) and Nick Gantsoudes ’12 (three goals) in addition to a 13-save effort by goalie Kyle Feeney ’13 propelled the Bison to a 14-10 win.

Just three days later, the Orange and Blue traveled to Philadelphia to face the Drexel Dragons. Four straight goals to open the game propelled the Bison to a 5-2 first quarter lead, but a strong second quarter effort by the Dragons in combination with a tough outing for Feeney brought the game to 7-7 with three minutes left in the first half.

After the game-tying goal, Feeney was pulled and replaced by keeper Sam Grinberg ’15. Facing an onslaught of shots from the Dragons, Grinberg was able to keep the Bison in the game with 11 saves over the final 33 minutes. After a 12-11 win, Feeney was glad to have a backup like Grinberg on a day when he was not performing at his optimal level.

“Having someone who can step in and win us a game like that as a freshman is unbelievable,” Feeney said.

With their record back at .500, the Bison looked to extend their three-game winning streak at home against Patriot League rival Lafayette on March 17. The game was never in doubt as the Bison defense held the Leopards to just six goals while the Bison offense unloaded in a 17-goal effort. The Bison were led by a seven–point game for Heritage (four goals, three assists), in addition to solid performances by Eisenreich (four goals, one assist) and Ronjohn Dadd ’13 (three goals) in his first performance of the season. Feeney rebounded from the game against Drexel with 9 saves.

Capping off the four-game stretch, the Bison welcomed Robert Morris to Lewisburg, one of only three teams to beat the Orange and Blue in 2011. The Colonials proved to be no match for the high-powered Bison offense that entered the game as the nation’s most accurate shooting team and sixth highest in scoring offense, averaging 12.6 goals per game.

With goals from seven different players, the Bison once again featured a balanced scoring attack that any team would have difficulty preparing for.

“[It] makes us very tough to scout and very tough to stop,” said Eisenreich, whose 11-point effort tied a school record.

The Orange and Blue could have increased their 17-10 lead in the closing minutes of the game as the Colonials racked up penalty minutes, but elected to run out the clock instead.

With the team at 5-3 and back in the national top-20 rankings, Heritage feels the Bison have finally hit their stride and are now feeling more confident with their play.

“We have been able to get to where we felt our team should of been from the beginning of the season. We are starting to understand exactly what we need to do to win and with five straight our confidence keeps building and we know we must stay mentally focused,” Heritage said.

The Orange and Blue look to continue their winning streak against Albany at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium tomorrow at 12 p.m.

Reed Dempsey
Contributing Writer

Propelled by a seven-point performance by Billy Eisenreich ’12, the men’s lacrosse team recorded its first win of the season this past Saturday, beating Navy 14-9 in Annapolis, Md.

After struggling greatly with non-League teams during the first three games of the season, head coach Frank Fedorjaka stressed the importance of keeping his men on the field and limiting the Midshipmen’s transitional opportunities. 

“We wanted to keep it a six versus six kind of game with minimal transition,” Fedorjaka said. “We were able to do so and it resulted in a terrific team win.”

The Orange and Blue opened the day’s scoring when Peter Burke ’14 found Chase Bailey ’13 for his fourth goal of the season. After the Midshipmen tied the game at one, the Bison responded with an unassisted goal by Tom Black ’14. The teams traded two goals apiece over the remainder of the first quarter, with tallies by Nick Gantsoudes ’12 and Billy Mattimore ’13 for the Bison.

Clearing, which had been a weak point for the Bison in their first three games, vastly improved against Navy. The Orange and Blue went 19-22 in clear attempts, taking pressure of the defense and giving the offense more possessions.

At the end of the first quarter, the Orange and Blue jumped out to a one goal lead, but it took the Midshipmen just 14 seconds into the second quarter to retie the game. Then, over the next 15 minutes of play, the Orange and Blue held the Mids scoreless while Eisenreich, Bailey, Burke and David Dickson ’15 all found the back of the net, giving the Bison an 8-4 lead heading into the half.

After a long scoring drought, the Midshipmen came out flying in the third quarter, scoring three goals in 45 seconds to bring the game back within one. Throughout the game, Navy dominated the face-off, giving them the ability to repossess the ball after each goal and build up momentum.

“It puts a lot of pressure on our team because it is hard to stop their momentum if they are playing ‘make-it take-it’ lacrosse,” Eisenreich said. “Our team defense was good, which made it difficult for Navy to get into a flow.”

Four minutes into the second half, the Bison took advantage of a man-up opportunity when Eisenreich found Burke for his second of the day. The Orange and Blue then followed with three more goals over the next five minutes of play by Joe Kearney ’15, Bailey and Todd Heritage ’14, extending their lead to 12-7.

Over the next 14 minutes of play, the score remained stagnant. A non-releasable unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Dickson opened the door for two Navy goals, but two minutes later, Eisenreich found a cutting Gantsoudes to go up 13-9. Over the final five minutes, the Bison defense stifled the Midshipmen, who tried desperately to maintain possession and get back on the board. Seven Navy penalties kept the Bison in control and gave Eisenreich the opportunity to extend his points total to seven on the day, the highest of his career against the Midshipmen.

The 14-9 win was the first step in turning the season around for the Bison. With nine different players scoring in the game, the Bison showed that they have a variety of players who can make an impact.

“Anytime you have every offensive player that stepped on the field score for you, you have to be excited. I don’t think I’ve ever had that but I hope it continues,” Fedorjaka said.

The Bison will look to win again when they face Hobart at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium this Saturday at 1 p.m.