Oates Delivers for Army in Overtime
from press release
WEST POINT, N.Y. - Army senior attackman Tyler
Oates scored 28 seconds into overtime to lead the Black Knights to
an 11-10 victory over visiting Colgate in Patriot League lacrosse
action, Saturday afternoon at Michie Stadium.
Oates received a feed from junior attackman Jeremy Boltus 15 yards
in front of the Colgate (1-8, 0-3 PL) cage and stuck a low-liner in
the back of the net for the game-winning tally with 3:32 showing on
the clock. The Black Knights (4-5, 2-0 PL) trailed, 10-8, with 7:26
to play, but a goal by sophomore midfielder Devin Lynch at 7:26,
and another by freshman attackman Garrett Thul with 1:51 left in
regulation knotted the game, 10-10, to force Army's third overtime
game of the season.
Colgate was hit with a holding penalty with 1.9 showing on the
clock and was forced to start the overtime period man-down. Oates'
game-winner came just as the Raider penalty was expiring.
"Boltus fed me a good ball and there was a good seem to shoot
through," said Oates of the overtime game-winner. "We had been
shooting high earlier, so I went low-to-low and it stunned them.
Every time we go to overtime, it always feels like, 'here we go
again.' Today, the bench was really positive and we had a feeling
we were going to pull it out today and we did."
Boltus led all scorers with his fifth five-point performance of the
season, totaling three goals and two assists, while Thul
chipped in four points on three goals and an assist to lead the
Black Knight attack. Junior goalkeeper Tom Palesky totaled 11 saves
to preserve Army's third victory in four outings.
"It was a great win for our guys. We really stepped up after having
a couple things go against us at the start of the fourth quarter,"
said Army head coach Joe Alberici. "There were some crazy things
that happened, but the guys kept their chins up and kept hammering
away and making plays. We fought for and came up with a lot of
tough, 50-50 ground balls. I also thought it might have been our
best offensive effort of the season. We also only turned the ball
nine times - that is outstanding."
Colgate jumped out to a 3-1 lead with 6:47 to play in the first
quarter. Sophomore attackman Patrick Campbell opened the scoring at
13:04, before Army sophomore midfielder Sean O'Sullivan bounced
home a left-handed shot from 10 yards away at 11:29. Raider senior
midfielder Ian Murphy converted a five-yard strike at 10:46, before
senior defender Mark Kinney scored on the run from seven yards away
to build the two-goal advantage.
The teams would trade goals to finish the quarter as Thul scored on
a low eight-yard bullet at 4:35, before Colgate junior attackman
Ben McCabe answered with 2:11 to play. Thul would wrap the quarter
up with a goal after a nice dodge at 1:25 to make it a one-goal
lead for the visitors after one.
After 10 minutes of scoreless play, O'Sullivan tied the game with a
man-up tally from 12 yards away off Thul feed at the 5:10 mark,
before Boltus collected a rebound following a nice save by Raider
sophomore goalie Jared Madison and scored to give Army its first
lead, 5-4, with 4:40 to play in the half.
Colgate would respond with a 3-0 run to take a 7-5 lead into
intermission. Junior midfielder Rob Bosco scored an unassisted goal
after a nice dodge at 3:47, before Campbell beat Palesky at
3:33 and senior defender Michael Crown scored in transition at
1:37.
The Black Knights scored three unanswered goals in the third
quarter to retake an 8-7 edge. Boltus would be the recipient of a
feed from sophomore LSM Tim Henderson, who had snagged a ground
ball off the opening faceoff, which he turned into a goal only 13
seconds into the third period. Boltus would again grab a loose ball
off a saved Army shot and beat Madison from close range at 8:08
before hitting sophomore Midfielder Rob McCallion with a pass that
resulted in a five-yard score with 1:16 on the clock.
Things started to bounce the Raiders' way at the start of the
fourth quarter as the visitors scored three straight goals to take
a 10-8 lead. McCabe send a pass out front from behind the Army cage
that was knocked down into traffic where Bosco flicked the ball out
of the scrum and past Palesky for a tally at 13:52. Following a
15-yard bouncer by freshman midfielder Peter Baum at 12:11, McCabe
would take a shot from 15 yards in front of the Army cage that
deflected off an Army long pole and into the net at 12:11.
Lynch started the Army comeback by potting a shot from six yards
away after a feed from senior attackman Tyler Seymour to make it a
one-goal game, 10-9, at 7:26. Palesky came up with a huge save as
the Black Knights killed off a Colgate extra-man opportunity with
3:23 remaining before Thul tied things up with a 15-yard low laser
off a feed from O'Sullivan with 1:15 remaining in regulation to
force overtime.
"We started off a little slow in the first half, but it was really
big the way we stepped it up in the second," said junior defenseman
Bill Henderson, who finished the day with four ground balls and a
pair of caused turnovers. "We only gave up three goals, and two
were tipped by our own players so I felt like we were able to shut
them down in the second half pretty well. When they got up early in
the fourth, we just went back to work. Our motto the last few weeks
has been to keep hammering the rock, and we just stuck to it and it
worked out."
BLACK KNIGHT NOTES: Today's victory was Army's first in overtime
since defeating Air Force, 11-10, on April 1, 2006 ... the Black
Knights were winless in their last five OT games, including two
earlier this season at Cornell (L, 12-11) and Air Force (L, 8-7)
and three in 2009 ... Army avenged a 10-9 double-overtime loss at
Colgate last year ... junior attackman Jeremy Boltus, who entered
the week ranked third nationally in assists and fourth in scoring,
bounced back from being held scoreless for the first time this
season on Tuesday night at Hofstra to register his fifth game
scoring at least five points of the season. He moved into 21st
place on Army's career scoring list with 116 points, surpassing
Doug Shaver '87 who totaled 113 ... freshman attackman Garrett Thul
also bounced back from a scoreless night against the Pride to
register h is fifth multiple-goal game of the season ... Army was
sporting black helmets and black shorts along with its home white
jerseys for the first time in over three years ... senior captain
Andrew Maisano, who earlier this week was named one of 10 national
finalists for the Lowe's Senior CLASS Award, led the Black Knights
onto the field before the game carrying the Stars and Stripes ...
Army picked up its first win of the season after trailing at
halftime and also improved to 25-5 in the 30th all-time meeting
between the teams ... the Black Knights will return to action next
Saturday, taking on host Bucknell in an 8:00 p.m. faceoff in
Lewisburg, Pa.
