Mount St. Mary's, Siena Vie for MAAC Crown
from press releases
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- Sophomore Brett Schmidt
tallied three goals and two assists while goalkeeper T.C. DiBartolo
made 20 saves to lead Mount St. Mary's to a come-from-behind 10-6
win over Manhattan in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Semifinals on
Friday afternoon at Tanney Stadium on the campus of Marist College.
With the win, the Mount advances to the MAAC title game for the
first time since 2006.
The Mount trailed 6-4 late in the third quarter before scoring the
final six goals of the game to earn the victory. The game was
a rematch of last year's MAAC Tournament semifinal that was won by
Manhattan, 5-3.
The Mount (11-4) will face top-seeded Siena in the championship
game. In the team's regular season meeting this season, Siena
rallied with four goals over the final six minutes for an 8-7 win
at the Mount.
Schmidt's five-point day led the Mount offense while Cody Lehrer
and Bryant Schmidt added two goals each in the victory.
Lehrer's two-goal game gives him 48 on the season, matching Josh
Warfield (2001) for the second-best single-season mark in MSM
history. Andrew Scalley added a goal and an assist for the
Mount as well.
The Mount was outshot in the game, 42-32, while Manhattan held a
28-to-19 advantage in ground balls. Sal Spatarella and Chace
Calkin each had two goals for Manhattan while goalkeeper Jon
Fiorillo had nine saves.
Trailing 4-3 at the half, the Jaspers (7-9) came out on fire in the
third quarter, scoring three goals in a span of 23 seconds to grab
a 6-4 lead. Spatarella evened the score 3:49 into the second
half when he tallied his second goal of the game and Calkins's
second score just nine seconds later put the Jaspers on top,
5-4. Defender Kyle Ochwat made it a two-goal advantage when
he converted a Justin Jensen pass with 10:48 left in the third.
Lehrer halted the streak when buried a shot from the left wing on a
pass from Brett Schmidt. Bryant Schmidt's second goal of the
game tied it at 6-6 with 2:12 left in the third quarter while
Andrew Scalley put the Mount ahead, 7-6, when he came from behind
the cage and beat the keeper with 26 seconds left in the
quarter.
In the fourth, Brett Schmidt scored the next three goals to seal
the victory. He scored on a move from behind the cage with
12:55 left before converted a Scalley pass with 7:22 on the clock
for a 9-6 lead. Schmidt completed the natural hat trick with
an unassisted goal with 4:39 left in the contest.
In the first half, Mark Stapor opened the scoring when he drove to
the cage and beat Manhattan keeper Jon Fiorillo to the right with
9:34 left in the first quarter. Lehrer made it a two-goal
advantage when he tallied his first goal of the day on an assist by
Brett Schmidt.
Sophomore Jake Willertz pushed the margin to 3-0 with his 21st goal
of the season with 10:25 left in the second quarter. Bryant
Schmidt made it 4-0 when he drove to the goal and buried a shot
with 4:00 remaining in the first half.
Manhattan's Calkin stemmed the Mount's momentum when he won the
face-off, sprinted to the cage and beat DiBartolo 12 seconds after
Schmidt's goal. Spatarella made it 4-2 with an unassisted
goal with 41 seconds left in the half. After a 25-second
skirmish on the face-off, Manhattan's Joe Variano was wide-open on
a feed from Jensen to make the score 4-3 at the half.
The shots in the first half were even at 16-16 with DiBartolo
making nine saves and Fiorillo five in the opening 30 minutes.
With the victory, the Mount tied the school record for wins in a
season (11) that was set by the 1999 squad (11-6) and matched by
the 2001 team.
Game Notes: This was the fifth meeting between the Mount and
Manhattan in the MAAC Tournament...The Jaspers have won three of
those matchups...This is the Mount's final season in the MAAC
before joining the Northeast Conference next year...Mount St.
Mary's has qualified for seven of the 11 MAAC Tournaments held and
has an 8-5 record in those games...This will be the Mount's sixth
MAAC Championships game.
*****
POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- Siena men's lacrosse
survived a sloppy MAAC Championship semifinal with timely goals and
defensive stops to defeat No. 4 seeded Marist 9-7 Friday evening at
Tenney Stadium in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Sophomore Bryan Neufeld led
all players with four goals, the biggest of which was the eventual
game winner, when he caught a pass on the crease, turned and scored
as he was clobbered. MAAC Defensive Player of the Year Brent Herbst
made 13 saves including four in the final period.
No. 1 seeded Siena (12-4) advances to its second MAAC Championship
game in as many years and will face No. 2 seeded Mount St. Mary's
on Sunday at noon. Mount advanced with a 10-6 win over Manhattan in
the first semifinal.
"This certainly wasn't going to be a 10-goal game like it was last
time," Head Coach Brian Brecht said. "I'm confident in our team.
We're deep and we have a lot of guys who can make plays at any
time. I don't think we were as crisp as we can be, but we made
plays when we needed."
Marist (8-7) came out strong and scored twice in the first five
minutes of the game. Siena settled down midway through the first
quarter and rattled off three goals in three minutes. The first was
a man-up goal by Brendan Murphy, his first of the season, and the
next two came off the stick of Neufeld.
The Red Foxes hung around by controlling possession with a clear
advantage at the faceoff X and Siena's sloppy play. Marist won
14-of-18 draws and the Saints complicated matters with 16
turnovers.
"They came out with a lot of passion and we had to weather the
storm," Neufeld said.
Marist tied the game with 51 seconds left in the first half as
Zindel hounded Herbst at the restraining line on a clearing attempt
and knocked the ball loose. Zindel grabbed the ball and shot as
Kyle Vercruysse scrambled to try and cover the empty net, but he
only got a piece and it slipped by him.
Siena took a two-goal lead in the third quarter with goals by
Neufeld and Loftus and Herbst made three saves to keep the Red
Foxes off the scoreboard.
Herbst took a penalty to end the third quarter and was forced to
the sidelines for 30 seconds. Siena killed the penalty with Bill
Kelly in goal, but Marist kept possession on an errant shot and
Zindel eventually scored to make it a one-goal game for a sixth
time.
Neufeld shined bright in the moment, scoring his fourth goal of the
game with 8:58 remaining. He received a pass from Matt Leithead on
the crease, spun and scored as he took a heavy hit from the
defender. He left the game with an injury on that play but later
returned.
Marist would not go away and answered a minute later. Siena led 8-7
until the final minutes when Shaun Dunn whistled a rocket past Sam
Altiero.
"It wasn't pretty but we got the win," Herbst said. "Throughout the
season we've had a bunch of character-building games and this is
just another to add to the list."
