Third Quarter 5-0 Run Not Enough as #6/6 UAlbany MLAX Season Ends with 14-10 NCAA Quarterfinal Defeat to #2/2 Notre Dame
Box Score | Box Score (PDF) | UAlbany Press Conference Quotes
DENVER – Despite a 5-0 run in the third quarter to take a 9-8 lead into the fourth, the UAlbany men's lacrosse team fell to #2/2 Notre Dame 14-10 in the NCAA Quarterfinal at the Mile High Stadium in Denver, ending the Great Danes' historic season.
UAlbany (16-3) finishes its season with 16 wins, the most in program history. UAlbany finished the year with 325 goals, 203 assists and 528 total points, all new Division I team records. The UAlbany seniors graduate as the winningest class in program history with 46 victories the past four years.
“I just have to say that I'm extremely proud of my program and how we conducted ourselves the whole year,” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr. “I'm so proud of my seniors and where they've taken our program from when they came in as freshmen.”
Down 8-4 going into the third, UAlbany shut out Notre Dame (12-2) in the third quarter with a 5-0 run to take a 9-8 lead into the fourth. The Fighting Irish scored the next six goals to take the lead for good.
“Hats off to Notre Dame. They were outstanding today,” said Marr. “They played very strong and physical and good luck to them moving forward.”
Notre Dame will advance to the semifinal round in Philadelphia, taking on the winner of Ohio State-Denver.
With an assist to Connor Fields 4:15 into the first quarter, Lyle Thompson became the Division I all-time assists leader. He finished with four assists today to total 225 in his career, adding a goal.
Thompson finishes the year with 121 points, the second-highest scoring season in DI history, only behind his own mark of 128 points in 2014. He ends his historic career with 400 points off 175 goals and 225 assists.
“It's been fun. Coming in and having a not-so-good freshman year and building off of that with the team that we had and the seniors, I think we were the core of this whole group from the first America East Championship to the last,” said Thompson. “I think we were the core of the team and those guys are the work horses. Just being a part of the history of this program has meant a lot to me and I'm just proud to say I was part of it.”
Fields led all players with six goals on the day, totaling 66 on the season, 9th all-time in DI single season history and first among freshmen. It is the 2nd-highest total in UAlbany history behind Miles Thompson's mark of 82 in 2014.
“When [Lyle Thompson] broke the points and assists record we were just playing our game out there and doing our normal game,” said Fields. “He felt no pressure with the records and it's kind of cool to say that I was on the other end of the goal when he broke the record for points. Just to be playing with Lyle has been a dream come true.”
Seth Oakes scored a goal and an assist while Matt Garziano added a pair of assists. Blaze Riorden got the loss in goal despite 14 saves.
For Notre Dame, Sergio Perkovic netted four goals with an assist, while Conor Doyle finished with three goals, an assist and two caused turnovers. Shane Doss picked up the win in goal with 10 saves.
UAlbany won the first faceoff and drew a Notre Dame penalty on a slash. Tim Cox got open and fired from straight-away from the cage, with the UND keeper making a save. The other way, UND fired away three times, with the final one being saved by Riorden.
After UAlbany cleared, Thompson passed to Fields, who fired a ground shot and score. That gave Thompson his 222nd assist of his career to stand alone as the DI all-time assists leader, plus gave UAlbany a 1-0 lead.
UND got a man-up situation the other way for :30, taking advantage with a 15-yard shot and score from the far side from Perkovic to tie the game.
After Riorden saved a point blank shot from Will Corrigan, UAlbany cleared and got the ball to Thompson. With Matt Landis faceguarding and pushing, Thompson got loose, threw the shot and scored to put UAlbany back up 2-1 with 7:11 left in the 1st.
After some back and forth possessions, UAlbany defended against a long UND offensive run as Kavanagh fired away again and again. The fifth shot by UND hit the post as Adam Osika picked up the ball. A Thompson shot in transition was saved. After an exchange of possession, Doyle came from behind the cage and hit the high shot to tie the game at 2-2, the eventual score at the end of the first quarter.
Into the second quarter, UND won the faceoff and each side turned it over. On a second chance opportunity, Jack Near got in front of the cage and bounced a shot past Riorden for the first UND lead at 3-2 with 13:45 left in the 2nd.
Riorden and the UAlbany defense continued to hold off the UND offense, which at one point outshot the Great Danes 20-8. Derrick Eccles forced a turnover near the goal circle as Eric Cantor picked it up, leading to a clear. The ball went to Cox, who raced from around the cage and hit the high shot to tie the game. Quickly off the faceoff, Matt Kavanagh picked up a ground ball and hit the close shot to put Notre Dame back in the lead 4-3 with 8:52 left in the 2nd.
The action continued to be high-paced with both sides getting off shots. Fields got off a wide open rip from 10 yards straight away, with Doss making the high save. At the 5:44 mark with UAlbany having possession, a lightning delay stopped the game for one hour and 20 minutes.
After the delay, each side kept up its high pace. Following a turnover on each side, Corrigan went around his defender and scores on the shot to the corner. UAlbany quickly countered; after an Oakes shot was saved, Thompson got the ball behind the cage, passed to Fields for the ground ball shot and score from straight-away, pulling UAlbany within one at 5-4 with 2:47 left in the 2nd.
Notre Dame got some quick chances off the faceoff: Doyle scored next to the goal circle just 16 seconds after Fields's goal, then scored again, getting past his defender running near side and scoring point blank. Another faceoff win for UND led Doyle to pass to Perkovic for the shot above Riorden's left shoulder. UND led 8-4 at the break.
After 4:30 of back and forth play, AJ Kluck forced a turnover from behind the cage to get UAlbany back the ball. Garziano drew a defender, passed to Fields while pushed. Fields shot low and scored. UAlbany got another chance after Riorden made a save as UAlbany cleared. Thompson passed to Fields, who made another low shot to net his fourth goal. Next possession, Oakes, with a defender in his chest, took his stick with one hand, threw the ball and scored to pull UAlbany within one.
Riorden got to back up on a wide UND shot. Following a clear, Oakes kept trying to get away from a double team, passing to Fields next to the goal circle. Fields shot behind his back and scored, tying the game at 8-8. The next possession, Garziano forced a turnovers, broke through a double team and cleared himself. He passed to Kyle McClancy in transition and scored straight-away to complete a 5-0 run to put UAlbany ahead 9-8 with 2:25 left in the 3rd, the eventual end of quarter score. It is the first time UAlbany shut out an opponent in a quarter since holding Siena to zero goals in the second quarter on April 21st.
After a couple of faceoff wins, Notre Dame scored a pair of goals in a span of 16 seconds, with Perkovic getting the ball after a ground ball scrum and scoring on the run, then Jim Marlatt getting the ball quickly on a violation and scoring to put Notre Dame ahead 10-9 with 13:20 left in the 4th.
Notre Dame got another faceoff win, with Marlatt shooting again as Riorden saved the chance with his foot next to the post. UAlbany picked up the ball and cleared, but lost possession on a pass to midfield. Mikey Wynne picked it up, ran from midfield and scored to make it 11-9 UND.
UAlbany kept getting opportunities, but Notre Dame kept forcing turnovers or making saves. The Irish added three more goals off a Nick Ossello open shot, a catch and shoot from Jack Near to Perkovic and an Ossello sidearm shot for the goal. Notre Dame led 14-9 with 5:45 left in the 4th.
UAlbany had one last gasp, with Thompson, behind the cage, passing to Fields for the straight away shot and score with 27.9 seconds left for Thompson's 400th point. The next faceoff went to Notre Dame, which expired the clock with 14-10 victory.
2015 was UAlbany's third-ever trip to the NCAA Quarterfinal round.
