April 25, 2008
2008 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Championship Page
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West Point, N.Y.- - Fourth-seeded Bucknell upset the top seed and host of the 2008 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Tournament Army by a score of 8-7 at Michie Stadium in the first semifinal of the day. No. 3 Colgate went on to follow suit in the upset victory category with a 12-9 win over second-seeded and four-time defending Patriot League Tournament Champion Navy. Colgate and Bucknell will both be vying for their first-ever Patriot League Tournament title in the championship game on Sunday at 2 p.m. Sunday's game will be broad cast on CBS College Sports.
This marks the first time in Patriot League Tournament history that both the No. 3 and No. 4 seeds will play in the championship game. Since the first running of the Patriot League Tournament in 2004 the No. 1 seed has not been in the title game only once when No. 2 Navy defeated No. 4 Army in 2006. This year will also mark the crowning of the League's first new champion as Navy has won all previous four titles.
Bucknell (10-4, 4-2 PL) has been the only Patriot League team this season to beat nationally-ranked Army (9-5, 5-1 PL), having done so during the regular season, 7-4, as well. In a semifinal that featured six ties in score, no team ever led by more than two goals with the Bison only ever holding a one-goal advantage. The win was the first for Bucknell in Patriot League Tournament history, suffering three one-goal semifinal losses in its previous appearances.
The first quarter went goal for goal between the two teams with Army striking first just 20 seconds into the game by an unassisted goal from Roy Ragusa. Bucknell responded a minute and a half later with a score by Ryan Klipstein from Doug Buckley. Army then got another tally from Rob McCallion at 11:17. Bucknell's Joe Mele notched a man-up goal at 8:01, his first of three goals in the contest, to close out first-half scoring at 2-2 off a feed from Austin Winter.
It was Bucknell's turn to score first in the second period on the exact same combo as its last goal with Mele putting the ball in the net from Winter just nine seconds into the quarter. The Black Knights then went on a three-goal run spanning eight and a half minutes with scores from McCallion, Brooks Korvin and Alex Roads. Bucknell evened out the score at halftime, 5-5, with two goals of its own - one from Winter unassisted and another from the Mele-Winter tandem.
Tim Brandau started the third quarter with a goal for the Bison at 12:12 to make it a 6-5 game for Bucknell, but Jason Peyer scored back-to-back to put the Black Knights up 7-6 with 4:56 on the clock. Bucknell got one last goal to tie it back up 7-7 from Perry Menzies, assisted by Winter.
Menzies added another goal as the only score in the fourth quarter to put Bucknell up 8-7 with 9:55 left in the game - a lead the Bison would not relinquish.
Winter led the Bison with six points on one goal and five assists, pushing his Patriot League-leading assist total to 32 on the year. His five assists tie a Patriot League tournament single-game record. Mele scored a hat trick for Bucknell, while Menzies had a three-point day on two goals and an assist. Matt Antonielli replaced Bucknell's starting goalkeeper 3:43 into the game and made 11 saves in just his fourth appearance of the season.
For Army, Peyer came up with two goals and two assists, while McCallion had a pair of goals. Adam Fullerton made 10 saves in net to up his career total to 610, which ranks fourth on the Patriot League's all-time list. Fullerton will have a shot to add to that total on May 3 when the Black Knights play their final regular-season game at Penn.
In the second semifinal game of the evening, Navy (9-5, 5-1 PL) reeled off three-straight goals to open the game with scores by Tim Paul, Joe Lennon and Sean Standen. Paul's goal started things off just 28 seconds into the game. Colgate (9-5, 4-2 PL) ended the run with two-straight goals scored by Kevin Colleluori at 9:52 and Matt Lalli at 7:10. Colgate then evened its up at 3-3 on a score by Brandon Corp assisted by Ian Murphy at the 3:37 mark.
Colgate scored four-straight goals in the second quarter to pull ahead 7-3 with Lalli starting the run at the 13:01 mark and Corp netting three-straight unassisted goals. Navy put a stop to the run with seven seconds left on the clock with an unassisted goal by Nick Mirabito with the Bison heading into halftime up 7-4.
Patrick Moran put up Navy's fifth goal of the game as the first score in the third quarter at 14:07 from Andy Tormey. Shane Durkin added another goal, assisted by Standen, for the Mids at 6:23. Colgate scored its first third-quarter tally at 4:14 on a Nick Monastero goal off a feed from Corp.
Colgate started off scoring in the fourth quarter with a goal from Zach Craumer 3:08 into the final period to make it 9-6. Corp added his fifth goal of the game at the 7:51 mark to tie the Patriot League Tournament single-game record for goals. Navy stopped Colgate's three-goal run less than a minute later on Durkin's second tally of the contest. Murphy tacked on a goal at 6:19 for the Raiders to make it 11-7, while Durkin answered back with one for the Mids at the 4:14 mark to collect a hat trick on the day. Colgate then came up with its 12th goal of the game with 1:47 left in the contest courtesy of an unassisted tally by Colleluori.
Corp gathered a game-high six points on five goals and one assist. The 2008 Patriot League Offensive Player of the Year increased his League-leading goal total 35. Lalli followed with five points on two goals and three assists, while Colleluori scored a pair of goals. Tim Harrington made 13 saves in goal for the Raiders.
For Navy Durkin led the offense with four goals, while Standen and Mirabito also had multiple points both with two on a goal and an assist. Matt Coughlin made eight stops on the night.
All three games of the Patriot League Tournament will be available through the Patriot League's All-Access live-streaming package. The cost to watch both semifinals games on Friday is $6.95. The cost to view the championship game, which will also be broadcast on television on CBS College Sports, is $7.95. Visit the Patriot League website and use the Patriot League All-Access link to sign up for the games.
Major League Lacrosse Director of Broadcast Content Jason Chandler (play-by-play) and former Syracuse All-American Paul Carcaterra (analyst) will call the action for Sunday's championship broadcast on CBS College Sports.
The Patriot League Tournament games will also be available on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. Both the Army-Bucknell and Navy-Colgate semifinals will be available on channel 119. The championship game will be carried on channel 152, taking the Army feed or Navy feed, depending on which team is the highest remaining seed.
Results and box scores for this weekend's competition can be found on the Patriot League site on the main page as well as on the Men's Lacrosse Championship Page which can be accessed by clicking here.
2008 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Tournament Schedule
Friday, April 25
Semifinal 1: No. 4 Bucknell 8, No. 1 Army 7
Semifinal 2: No. 3 Colgate 12, No. 2 Navy 9
Sunday, April 27
Championship Game: No. 3 Colgate vs. No. 4 Bucknell (CBS College Sports), 2 p.m.
