Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/24/12
From Press Release
Senior attackman Jack Forster (La Salle) recorded a hat trick as the No. 17 Penn State men’s lacrosse team snapped its three-game losing streak with a 7-3 victory over host Saint Joseph’s at Finnesey Field on Saturday afternoon. The Nittany Lions, who have allowed three goals or less in three of their four victories, improved to 4-4 overall (1-1 CAA), while the Hawks fell to 3-5 (0-2 CAA).
Forster registered three goals in a game for the first time since netting four markers against Saint Joseph’s in a 14-6 Nittany Lion victory on March 26, 2011. Junior midfielder Nick Dolik scored twice for Penn State, while senior attackman Matthew Mackrides (Malvern Prep) and junior midfielder Travis Crane tallied one goal each. Dolik also notched a game-high three caused turnovers.
Junior faceoff specialist Danny Henneghan, who won 8-of-14 draws, collected a game-high four ground balls, and sophomore goalkeeper Austin Kaut (Springfield-Delco) made 10 saves. Saint Joseph’s netminder Griffin Ferrigan recorded 11 stops.
The Nittany Lions out shot Saint Joseph’s by a 32-28 margin, while controlling 18 ground balls to the Hawks’ 28. Penn State was 0-for-4 on extra-man opportunities, while Saint Joseph’s finished 0-for-2 with the extra man.
Penn State scored the lone goal in the opening frame to take a 1-0 lead. Following a Saint Joseph’s turnover, the Nittany Lions brought the ball down the field before Forster rocketed his first goal of the game at 4:45.
In the second stanza, Penn State outscored the Hawks by a 3-1 margin en route to the three-goal halftime lead. Crane tallied his second marker in a Nittany Lion uniform with 12:44 remaining before Saint Joseph’s Johnny Simanski cut the Hawks’ deficit to 2-1 with 9:41 left.
With 6:40 left in the half, Dolik notched his eighth marker of the season to regain Penn State’s two-goal advantage before Forster gave the Nittany Lions a 4-1 lead 1:08 later.
Penn State tacked on two more goals in the third quarter before the Hawks responded with one of their own. Dolik recorded his second tally of the game when he scored just 27 seconds into the second half. With 11:29 left in the third, Mackrides fired his 13th marker of the season to give Penn State a 6-1 lead. Kyle Williams scored for the Hawks with 3:38 left in the frame to make it a 6-2 game.
In the fourth frame, Saint Joseph’s Ryan McGee brought the Hawks to within three goals with 7:43 remaining before Forster completed the hat trick 1:30 later to make it 7-3. Freshman attackman Pat Manley recorded an assist on the play.
Princeton 10, Yale 9, 5 OT
Capretta ended the longest game in the history of Princeton lacrosse and Yale lacrosse with a goal with 2:21 gone in the fifth – yes, fifth – overtime, giving the visiting Tigers a heart-stopping Ivy League win over the Bulldogs in front of 1,057 at Reese Stadium.
Capretta’s winner, off a pass from Tucker Shanley, ended a game that featured amazing performances by players up and down both lineups. It also featured ridiculous swings in momentum that saw the game seemingly won by each team so many different times.
“That was crazy,” Capretta said. “We never gave up. Yale gave us a great fight. It was really nerve-wracking, but we handled it really well. And so did Yale. In the end, we were able to capitalize, and that was the game.”
About an hour ealier, Capretta had scored two goals and added an assist in the fourth quarter as Princeton built two three-goal leads, including 9-6 with 3:35 to go.
Yale, though, ralllied to tie it, getting the equalizer from Greg Mahony with just 21 seconds to go.
And then the game became truly insane.
In the 18:21 of the overtimes, the teams combined for 28 shots, seven turnovers, nine saves and three extra-man opportunities. Neither team had a stalling warning in any of the five overtimes.
The game seemed won time again, beginning with Ryan McCarthy’s shot on the first possession of the first overtime and continuing as goalies Tyler Fiorito and Jack Meyer made save after save, until Capretta rocketed one that Meyer just couldn’t stop. Just when it appeared one team had it, the other would step up, get the ball back and take its chance.
“It’s pretty cool to score the winning goal,” Capretta said. “The win is the important thing. We’re happy as a team.”
As the game went on, the pressure built on both teams, and the stakes were huge.
Princeton was looking to win its third straight and go to 2-0 in the Ivy League. Yale was looking to snap a losing streak and even its league record.
Ultimately, as the pressure built, all of that became secondary to the drama of the moment. And none of it was crazier than the fifth OT.
It started with Princeton a man up, which meant no face-off, which was good news for the Tigers, as Yale had won three of the four OT face-offs.
Shanley fired one that Meyer saved, and Princeton’s Rob Castelo was called for a slash on the clear, giving Yale 59 seconds of advantage time.
It looked like Andrew Cordia had it won for the Bulldogs, but Fiorito just got a piece of his bounce shot, which looked like it had actually gone in. Instead, it was possession to Princeton for the clear.
As the Tigers got into their offense, Cordia came off in complete disbelief that his shot hadn’t won it, grabbing his helmet with both hands.
Princeton then spent its final timeout and off the restart, Shanley faked left, passed it back to Capretta on his right and watched as Capretta blasted it into the net.
Colin Still (Penn Charter) scored once and had an assist for Yale.
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