Boltus Tallies 100th Career Assist in Army Victory over Rutgers
from press release
PISCATAWAY, N.J. -- No. 13 Army outscored
Rutgers 7-2 in the second quarter and senior attackman Jeremy
Boltus notched his 100th career assist as the Army lacrosse team
won its fourth-straight game, topping Rutgers by a 12-4 score on a
windy Saturday afternoon at RU Turf Field.
Army (5-2) opened a 9-1 lead with 3:58 left in the first half, but
let up two quick Rutgers (5-2) goals and entered halftime holding a
9-3 lead. The Scarlet Knights held Army scoreless in the third
quarter, but the Black Knights came out with three unanswered goals
over the opening eight minutes of the fourth frame to seal the
win.
"Today was a complete effort," said head coach Joe Alberici, in his
sixth year with the program. "Scoring 12 goals against a team
that's only given up five a game is terrific. Defensively, we
played very well throughout. Giving up four goals in a Division I
lacrosse game is outstanding. Things really got going with our
faceoff. Derek Sipperly was terrific for us today. It was a
complete team effort. We'll enjoy this one today and quickly turn
our attention to Lehigh in preparation for Tuesday."
Three of Boltus' four assists came in the opening two quarters. The
Baldwinsville, N.Y., native finished with a game-high six points as
he tallied Army's first two goals on the day. He is one of only
three players in Army's 94-year history to reach the century mark
in assists.
"It's an honor for me, but it's all about the guys playing around
me that make it happen," Boltus said. "I've tried to pick up my
game every year and to be mentioned in the same sentence as the
greats like Tim Pearson and Jeff Bryan is a real honor."
Sophomore attackman Garrett Thul and junior attackman Devin Lynch
each tallied two goals for the afternoon. Junior attackman Conor
Hayes tallied three points on a second-quarter goal and assists on
Army's final two tallies - both to Lynch. Pat Brennan, Tim
Henderson, John Adair, Andrew Boyd and Derek Sipperly all scored
single goals. Sipperly took all 20 face-offs and won 12. He was
6-of-7 at halftime.
Army out-shot Rutgers 23-21 and won the ground ball game by a 22-19
margin. Sipperly and senior goalkeeper Tom Palesky led the way with
four and three ground balls, respectively. Palesky played all 60
minutes between the pipes and made eight saves, three of which came
in the fourth quarter.
A fairly clean game throughout, each team was only whistled for one
penalty. Army was 1-for-1 on extra-man opportunities as senior
midfielder Rob McCallion fed Adair for a goal just 4:58 into the
second quarter. Army's lone penalty came with 32 seconds remaining
in the game.
Rutgers entered Saturday's action leading the nation with a 5.0
goals-against average. The Black Knights' 12 goals marked the most
the Scarlet Knights have surrendered all season.
Sipperly won the opening faceoff and Boltus got Army on the board
in a hurry, scoring the team's quickest goal of the season just 10
seconds into the contest. The lead was short-lived, however, as the
Scarlet Knights leveled the score at 1-1 on Michael Diehl's lone
goal of the day with 10:58 on the clock.
Boltus struck again with 5:03 to play in the first quarter, as he
created for himself coming around the left side of the net and
beating Rutgers starting keeper Rudy Butler down low to end the
first quarter scoring.
Army pulled away from the Scarlet Knights from the outset of the
second quarter. Starting with Boltus' second goal to end the first,
the Black Knights strung together seven unanswered scores to take
their largest lead of the day (9-1) with four minutes to play in
the half. Army's seven goals came courtesy seven different players,
beginning with Sipperly's second goal of the season. He won the
opening faceoff and took off for the net for an unassisted goal at
14:48.
Boltus picked up his first assist of the day on Thul's first goal
of the afternoon. With 12:13 to play, Boltus ripped a pass over the
RU defense as Thul proceeded to sling the shot through traffic from
15 yards out.
Henderson got in the action just over a minute later as he picked
up a ground ball in Rutgers' end and took it himself for the score
at 11:06. Adair provided Army's lone man-up goal (10:02), while
Boltus fed Hayes (7:55) and Boyd (6:34) on back-to-back Army
possessions. Brennan tacked on Army's ninth goal as McCallion
worked behind the net and fed Brennan for his second assist.
"We really got rolling on offense in the second quarter," Boltus
said. "We saw what they were going to do defensively on film during
the week and we just executed our game plan."
Rutgers scored the final two goals of the half and the only goal in
the third quarter, as the Scarlet Knights pulled within 9-4 at the
start of the fourth quarter. Thul netted his team-high 17th goal of
the season just 1:40 into the action. Boltus was credited with his
final assist of the day, as Army made Rutgers pay for a costly
turnover.
Hayes connected with Lynch for Army's final two goals of the game,
coming at 12:09 and 7:17, respectively.
Game notes
Senior LSM Chris Day carried the American flag onto the field ... Jeremy Boltus is just the third player in Army history with over 100 career assists ... Army committed 17 turnovers to Rutgers' 14 ... Jeremy Boltus and Garrett Thul extended their point-scoring streaks to 16 games, respectively ... Army's win marked its third road victory of the season ... Zach Palmieri played the final 3:32 in relief of Tom Palesky in goal ... Army defeated Rutgers for a fourth-straight time and improved to 58-19-1 all-time against the Scarlet Knights ... head coach Joe Alberici recorded his 45th win on the Army sidelines ... Army shot 52 percent (12-of-23).
