April 25, 2008
2008 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Championship Page
West Point, N.Y.- - Fourth-seeded Bucknell upset the top seed and host of the 2008 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Tournament Army by a score of 8-7 at Michie Stadium in the first semifinal of the day. No. 2 Navy and No. 3 Colgate will battle in the second semifinal beginning at 7 p.m. Bucknell will face the winner of that game on Sunday in the championship tilt at 2 p.m. Sunday's game will be broad cast on CBS College Sports.
Bucknell (10-4, 4-2 PL) has been the only Patriot League team this season to beat nationally-ranked Army (9-5, 5-1 PL), having done so during the regular season, 7-4, as well. In a semifinal that featured six ties in score, no team ever led by more than two goals with the Bison only ever holding a one-goal advantage. The win was the first for Bucknell in Patriot League Tournament history, suffering three one-goal semifinal losses in its previous appearances.
The first quarter went goal for goal between the two teams with Army striking first just 20 seconds into the game by an unassisted goal from Roy Ragusa. Bucknell responded a minute and a half later with a score by Ryan Klipstein from Doug Buckley. Army then got another tally from Rob McCallion at 11:17. Bucknell's Joe Mele notched a man-up goal at 8:01, his first of three goals in the contest, to close out first-half scoring at 2-2 off a feed from Austin Winter.
It was Bucknell's turn to score first in the second period on the exact same combo as its last goal with Mele putting the ball in the net from Winter just nine seconds into the quarter. The Black Knights then went on a three-goal run spanning eight and a half minutes with scores from McCallion, Brooks Korvin and Alex Roads. Bucknell evened out the score at halftime, 5-5, with two goals of its own - one from Winter unassisted and another from the Mele-Winter tandem.
Tim Brandau started the third quarter with a goal for the Bison at 12:12 to make it a 6-5 game for Bucknell, but Jason Peyer scored back-to-back to put the Black Knights up 7-6 with 4:56 on the clock. Bucknell got one last goal to tie it back up 7-7 from Perry Menzies, assisted by Winter.
Menzies added another goal as the only score in the fourth quarter to put Bucknell up 8-7 with 9:55 left in the game - a lead the Bison would not relinquish.
Winter led the Bison with six points on one goal and five assists, pushing his Patriot League-leading assist total to 32 on the year. His five assists tie a Patriot League tournament single-game record. Mele scored a hat trick for Bucknell, while Menzies had a three-point day on two goals and an assist. Matt Antonielli replaced Bucknell's starting goalkeeper 3:43 into the game and made 11 saves in just his fourth appearance of the season.
For Army, Peyer came up with two goals and two assists, while McCallion had a pair of goals. Adam Fullerton made 10 saves in net to up his career total to 610, which ranks fourth on the Patriot League's all-time list. Fullerton will have a shot to add to that total on May 3 when the Black Knights play their final regular-season game at Penn.
All three games of the Patriot League Tournament will be available through the Patriot League's All-Access live-streaming package. The cost to watch both semifinals games on Friday is $6.95. The cost to view the championship game, which will also be broadcast on television on CBS College Sports, is $7.95. Visit the Patriot League website and use the Patriot League All-Access link to sign up for the games.
Major League Lacrosse Director of Broadcast Content Jason Chandler (play-by-play) and former Syracuse All-American Paul Carcaterra (analyst) will call the action for Sunday's championship broadcast on CBS College Sports.
The Patriot League Tournament games will also be available on SIRIUS Satellite Radio. Both the Army-Bucknell and Navy-Colgate semifinals will be available on channel 119. The championship game will be carried on channel 152, taking the Army feed or Navy feed, depending on which team is the highest remaining seed.
Results and box scores for this weekend's competition can be found on the Patriot League site on the main page as well as on the Men's Lacrosse Championship Page which can be accessed by clicking here.
2008 Patriot League Men's Lacrosse Tournament Schedule
Friday, April 25
Semifinal 1: No. 4 Bucknell 8, No. 1 Army 7
Semifinal 2: No. 2 Navy vs. No. 3 Colgate, 7 p.m.
Sunday, April 27
Championship Game: No. 4 Bucknell vs. No. 2 Navy/No. 3 Colgate (CBS College Sports), 2 p.m.
