Army Nearly Upended, But Boltus Has Other Plans
from press release
WEST POINT, N.Y. -- Army junior attackman
Jeremy Boltus totaled three goals and three assists as the Black
Knights held off a tough VMI squad to take an 11-9 victory in their
season-opener, Saturday, at Michie Stadium.
Leading 4-2 at half time, Army (1-0) forged a 10-5 lead early in
the fourth quarter thanks in part to three-straight goals by Boltus
to finish a 6-3 spurt. Four unanswered VMI goals, including a pair
by junior midfielder Bobby Davis, pulled the visitors within one at
10-9 with 5:51 remaining, but an unassisted tally by Army freshman
attackman Garrett Thul with 1:27 remaining sealed the win for
Army.
"Today was a good way to get things going," said Boltus. "It was
nice to be able to finish off a close game and get some confidence
going forward and put away all the thoughts of last year and the
tight losses. It was good to see the new faces, especially on
attack, step up and play well. The defense played a great game
too."
Junior goalkeeper Tom Palesky was credited with 11 saves to
preserve the victory, while senior attackman Tyler Seymour added
three goals and junior midfielder Rob McCallion added a goal and
three assists to the winning effort for Army.
"I give VMI a lot of credit. They played hard and definitely had a
plan, offensively, that they stuck to the whole game and were very
successful with, thanks in big part to their faceoff performance,"
said Army head coach Joe Alberici. "For us, I was very happy for
our guys. They came out with a lot of enthusiasm and were excited
to play. We were also able to execute our plan on the offensive
end. Our time of possession wasn't exactly what we were looking
for, but to have 11 goals was very good. We have some things
to clean up. We could be a little sharper in the clearing game, and
certainly in our faceoff game. If we do those things, we have a
chance to be a pretty good team."
VMI sophomore midfielder Stephen Robarge was a one-man wrecking
crew, winning 16 of 19 faceoffs while picking up nine ground balls
to keep the Keydets within striking distance all game long.
Sophomore midfielder Keith Long (2 goals, 2 assists) and senior
midfielder Tim Moran (1 goal, 3 assists) shouldered the scoring
load for the visitors.
Sophomore midfielder Devin Lynch took a feed from McCallion and
scored on a 10-yard shot at 13:55 for the game's first goal. Long
would answer with an unassisted tally at 12:15, before Thul's first
collegiate goal off a feed from Boltus started a 3-1 Black Knight
run to end the half. Moran netted a goal at 10:41 to tie the game,
2-2, before McCallion fed senior midfielder Tyler Oates for a
man-up tally at 4:22 and then made a nice play to snag a loose ball
and convert in front of the VMI net to make it a 4-2 Army lead
after 15 minutes of play.
A back-and-forth second quarter followed as neither team was able
to find the back of the net heading into halftime, but the two
teams combined for eight goals in a high-scoring third stanza.
Seymour was the beneficiary of some nice passing by Boltus on
back-to-back goals to start the third as Army looked to pull away
with a 6-2 lead at the 11:09 mark, but Keydet senior attackman
Jacob Weimer converted a pair of goals over a 1:31 span to make it
a two-goal affair with 8:20 to play in the third.
Seymour picked up a loose ball on the VMI crease and stuffed home
his third tally of the afternoon to make it a 7-4 Army lead at 6:53
before Long struck off a Moran feed at 4:07 to cut the deficit back
down to two at 7-5.
Boltus started his scoring tear with a man-up rip from 10 yards
out off an assist by senior midfielder Andrew Maisano at 2:33,
before getting open on the VMI crease and cashing in a McCallion
pass 1:01 later to give the Black Knights a four-goal cushion, 9-5
heading into the fourth. Boltus then started the fourth quarter
with a 15-yard goal to push the lead to 10-5 with 13:15 to
play.
The VMI comeback started with Weimer's third goal of the day at
12:26, before sophomore attackman Drew Leonard got loose on the
Army crease and turned a Moran pass into a score at 11:22. Davis
made a long run around the Army goal and scored an unassisted tally
at 8:54, before finishing off another scoring attempt at 5:51 to
make it a one-goal game, 10-9.
With under two minutes to play, Thul took possession of the ball
on the right side of the VMI zone and started his run from 20 yards
out. He let loose a hard shot from 10 yards away into the top left
corner of the goal to give the Black Knights some breathing room as
they ran out the clock for the win.
BLACK KNIGHT NOTES: A sunny and unseasonably warm day greeted both
teams on a great day for lacrosse in the Hudson Valley ... Black
Knight senior midfielder Matt Poulos led the team onto the field
carrying the American Flag ... Army improved to 72-21 in
season-openers, including a 27-4 mark in the friendly confines of
Michie Stadium ... it was the third-straight season Army kicked off
the campaign opposite visiting VMI, winning 16-3 in 2008 and 17-3
in 2009 ... Army junior attackman Jeremy Boltus has compiled 18
career points against VMI on six goals and 12 assists ... senior
attackman Tyler Seymour's three goals were a career-high in
his first collegiate start ... VMI out-shot the Black Knights,
34-40 and held a 34-24 advantage in the ground ball department ...
Keydet sophomore midfielder Stephen Robarge has now won 31 of 40
face-offs in VMI's first two games this year, including a 15-of-21
showing last Saturday in a loss to Navy ... Army will return to
action on Tuesday, hosting Bryant for a 4:00 p.m. matinee at Michie
Stadium which will feature free admission for all fans.
