Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 4/3/16
From Press Releases
With five minutes left in the third quarter of Saturday’s game between the University of Pennsylvania men’s lacrosse team and top-ranked Yale at Reese Stadium, the Quakers were up 9-4 and looked like they might be on their way to an historic win.
Instead, Yale turned the table and showed why they hold that No. 1 ranking. Yale scored twice before the third quarter ended, then tacked on three more in the fourth to make it 9-9 with 4:20 left. Penn went back in front when Reilly Hupfeldt (Haverford School, 2 goals) finished a feed from Nick Doktor with 3:05 to play, but Yale again drew level when Michael Keasey scored from distance in a man-up situation with just 17 seconds left in regulation.
That set the stage for Ben Reeves. Penn won the overtime faceoff but quickly lost the ball. Yale came down to the other end, and Reeves made sure the Bulldogs would not lose it. He came around the left post from behind, turned and fired a shot into the upper corner, over Reed Junkin’s right shoulder. That gave the Bulldogs an 11-10 win in extra time.
Penn is now 5-4, and fell to 2-1 in Ivy League play. Yale is still unbeaten, at 8-0, and improved to 3-0 in the league.
Simon Mathias scored three goals for Penn, while Doktor had a massive game with two goals and three assists. At the other end, Keasey scored four times and Reeves had four points (1g, 3a).
The score was 3-3 late in the first quarter, but Pat Berkery scored to put Penn ahead with just seven seconds left. That set the stage for a second quarter that was won by Penn, 3-1, thanks to goals from Doktor, Hupfeldt and Mathias. In the third, Doktor and Mathias scored, capping a 5-1 run that made it 9-4.
Yale’s first two goals in the comeback came 1:01 apart, from Keasey and Tyler Warner, and then in the fourth quarter the Bulldogs drew level on goals from Eric Scott, Keasey, and Jeff Cimbalista (La Salle/Duke’s LC, 2 goals).
Penn had a strong showing on the face-off X on Saturday, winning 18 of the 25 draws. Junkin finished the game with eight saves, while Phil Huffard had five stops in the Yale cage.
Penn is back at home for its next two games, but the road gets no easier as the Quakers host the other Ivy team that entered Saturday undefeated overall in No. 3 Brown. The Bears and the Quakers will face off next Saturday at noon on Franklin Field.
Women
Florida 10, Temple 9
An incredible game saw an upset bid fall just short for Temple lacrosse in a 10-9 loss at No. 2 Florida on Saturday afternoon in the Owls’ BIG EAST opener. Temple (8-3, 0-1) never trailed by more than two goals against the Gators (11-1, 2-0), but the Owls were unable to score the last equalizer they needed in the final four minutes.
“We are disappointed, but in a really good way,” said Temple head coach Bonnie Rosen. “It was a really well-played team game and a great step for us a program. Our goal was to give ourselves a chance to win it at the end, and we did exactly that, we just didn’t finish it.”
Floerida is coached by Spring-Ford grad Amanda Moore, a standout on the Owls’ National championship teams of the late 1980s.
The game was the fourth all-time between Temple and Florida, and easily the Owls’ best showing of the four. They dominated on the draw, finishing with a 13-8 edge in draw controls, and were able to play at their pace for much of the game, holding the ball for long possessions and being extremely efficient on attack.
“We really stuck to the game plan,” said Rosen, ” which was to be patient with our offense and weather their scoring. We knew they could score at times at will and we were prepared for that. We stayed focused and stuck to our game plan, and that allowed us to stay grouded and play a solid game. I’m really happy with how we played as a team today.”
Kirstie Connor notched a hat trick to lead Temple, scoring all three of her goals in the first half. Brenda McDermott (North Penn) scored twice, while Megan Tiernan (Washington Township, NJ), Nicole Tiernan (Washington Township, NJ), Rachel Schwaab and Megan Pinkerton (Manheim Township) all notched one goal apiece for the Owls. Temple held the Gators to three goals below their scoring average so far this season, getting four big saves from Jaqi Kakalecik in the cage.
Two and a half minutes into the game the Owls found themselves down 2-0, but it proved not to be an indication of how the rest of the period would play out. Nicole Tiernan took Temple’s first shot of the game at 23:36 of the first half and made it count to get the Owls on the board, but Florida answered just 40 seconds later on a free position opportunity.
Temple slowed the pace on its next possession, taking well over five minutes on offense but finally scoring after the long attacking set when Schwaab rolled into the crease and got another one past Florida goalkeeper Mary-Sean Wilcox.
Connor’s first goal tied the game just before the midway point of the half, as she scored on a pass from Morgan Glassford after also earning the draw control for the Owls. The Gators took a 4-3 lead, but Temple would once again answer with a pair of goals.
Connor made it 4-4 with a strong move inside at 12:29, and two minutes later McDermott gave the Owls their first lead at 5-4.
Florida put up two goals within 30 seconds of each other to re-take the lead, 6-5 at 7:56, but Connor completed her hat trick in just the first half with a goal at 6:30 to tie the game at 6-6.
Lindsey Ronbeck scored a second goal for the Gators at 5:19, but the game was tied yet again with 2:39 remaining on a free position goal for Megan Tiernan. With just 13 seconds left, Florida scored its final goal of the half and was able to take an 8-7 lead into the break.
The second half provided little in the way of offense compared to the first. Temple held the first possession for two and a half minutes, but did not score and Florida took a 9-7 lead on a free position goal at 26:51.
Close to six minutes later, a pass from McDermott to Pinkerton put the Owls within one, and McDermott would later score her second goal at 13:32 to tie the game after an extremely long possession for Temple.
Kakalecik came up with a big save with 8:45 remaining to preserve the tie, but the Gators came up with the lone goal of the final 13 and a half minutes when Ronbeck completed the hat trick with 4:16 remaining. The Owls lost the ensuing draw control but got one more chance on attack thanks to a caused turnover by Maddie McTigue with 2:47 remaining. They were unable to get a shot off however, and lost the ball for good with just under a minute to go.
“So far this season, we hadn’t been in this situation before with a one-goal game,” said Rosen. “I gave Rachel Schwaab the green light to look for a 1 v 1 scoring opportunity, and unfortunately we turned the ball over before she got that chance. But I’m really proud of how she handled the pressure all day long, they really focused on her, and there is no one I’d rather have with the ball in that situation.”