UMBC

Printer Friendly  Email This Page
News Release

LATE GOAL BY CROSS GIVES MEN'S LACROSSE A 10-9 WIN OVER AMERICA EAST DEFENDING CHAMPION ALBANY

4/3/2004

Baltimore, MD—Junior attackman Rob Cross (Black River, NY) scored with 3:22 remaining as UMBC (3-3, 2-0 America East) outscored visiting Albany (4-3, 1-1 AEC), 3-0, in the final quarter and nipped the defending league champions, 10-9, at UMBC Stadium.

The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Albany, while UMBC won for the first time in three outings. It was UMBC’s third one-goal decision of the season, and second in a row after last week’s 11-10 loss to Delaware.  The Retrievers defeated Ohio State, 8-7, in 2 overtimes five weeks ago.

The tightly-played contest featured eight ties, and six lead changes as neither team established more than a one-goal advantage in the first 40 minutes of play. But the Great Danes took some degree of control when Merrick Thomson and Luke Daquino scored back-to-back goals late in the third period to give Albany a 9-7 lead after 45 minutes.

But UMBC wiped that lead out in the first 54 seconds of the fourth quarter as sophomore midfielder James Hyland (St. Mary’s/Annapolis, MD) scored at the 40-second mark, and face-off specialist Pat Muston (Novi, MI) won the ensuing draw and tallied an unassisted score to knot the game at 9-9. Neither team could mount much of a scoring threat until senior midfielder Franklin Berry (Mt. Hebron/Ellicott City, MD) found Cross cutting toward the goal, and the first-time starter bounced a shot past Albany netminder Kevin Rae.

UMBC committed five turnovers down the stretch, but Albany could not capitalize, as they managed just one shot in the final three minutes. Retriever freshman attackman Drew Westervelt (John Carroll/Bel Air, MD) picked off an Albany clearing attempt with 43 seconds left and Albany did not get an offensive thrust after that turnover.

Westervelt led UMBC with 2 goals and 2 assists, while Berry (2g, 1a), Hyland (1g, 2a), and sophomore attackman Brendan Mundorf (1g, 2a) each tallied 3 points. Cross scored a pair of goals and junior midfielder Joe Cahill added a goal and an assist. Albany freshman attackman Merrick Thomson led all scorers with 4 goals and 2 assists, while sophomore attacker Chris Martocchia added 2 goals and 1 helper. Rae had 7 saves for the Great Danes, while Retriever netminder made 5 of his 10 stops in the fourth quarter.

Muston of UMBC controlled 16 of 23 face offs for UMBC, as the Retrievers amassed 39 ground balls to UA’s 26. Albany scored 3 of 5 on its extra-man and outshot the Retrievers, 33-29.