Yale Opens Ivy Slate Beating Penn in OT
from press release
PHILADELPHIA - The 2009 Ivy League season began
with a bang for the Yale men’s lacrosse team as senior
attacker Michael Karwoski scored with 3:49 left in overtime to give
the Bulldogs a come-from-behind, 14-13 win over Penn at Franklin
Field.
Karwoski, who led the Elis (3-2, 1-0 Ivy) with a career-high five
goals and one assist, got the ball after Kevin Discepolo won the
opening draw in the extra session. Mark Schlam took the ball from
Discepolo and flipped it to Karwoski, who was heading down the left
side. The Bulldog sniper used a pick by Brian Douglass and found an
opening eight feet out before sneaking a shot into the lower corner
on Penn goalie Joe Hegener (14 saves).
“Mark [Schlam] moved the ball to me and Brian [Douglass] came
up to set a great pick. My defender was all over me until that
pick. I was confident it [the shot] was going to go in. I got a
good bounce,” said Karwoski. “I was having a good day
and my shot was on.”
Yale erased a 10-5 deficit late in the second quarter by scoring
nine of the game’s last dozen goals. The Elis held 1-0 and
4-3 leads before the Quakers went on a five-goal surge early in the
second.
Eli newcomer Matt Gibson had three goals and three assists and
classmate Gregory Mahony hit the net three times while sophomore
Brian Douglass chipped in a pair and his classmate, Alex Forrey,
hit the net once.
“We showed a lot of heart and toughness today and I’m
very proud of our team,” said Yale head coach Andy Shay.
“I told them to keep chipping away. We were back in the game
all of a sudden.”
After Craig Andrzejewski (team-high 3 goals) hit the net at 10:17
of the fourth to give the home team a 12-9 lead, the Bulldogs
responded with four straight. Mahony’s unassisted tally with
51 seconds left gave the Blue a 13-12 advantage.
However, Penn’s Casey O’Rourke found the net with 15
seconds left and sent the game to overtime.
The game-winner was redemption for Karwoski, who hit the pipe with
a chance to win the game in OT at Franklin Field two years ago. The
Elis lost that 2007 contest.
Yale had the advantage in shots (48-32) and ground balls (42-29)
and barely edged the Quakers in faceoffs (17-14). Both Jonathan
Falcone and Andrew Brown saw time in the Bulldog net, combining for
eight saves.
“Our coaches have been doing a great job of developing the
team as a hole and getting everyone to do something to help,”
said Karwoski. “He told us that Penn has been getting ahead
and then giving up leads, and that we should just hang in
there.”
