Phillylacrosse.com, Posted 3/2/18
From Press Release
Given a reprieve by a late Bucknell timeout, Simon Mathias capped off a six-point game by scoring an unassisted goal with just two seconds left as the No. 15 University of Pennsylvania men’s lacrosse team edged the Bison, 9-8, Tuesday night inside the Dunning-Cohen Champions Field Seasonal Air Structure.
In the first indoor game played in the structure, Penn had the ball at the end of regulation but got a stall warning with 36 seconds left on the clock. With nine seconds left, a Quakers shot was wide and went out of bounds behind the goal. At that point, Bucknell called a timeout, but because it was a defensive timeout the shot clock reset.
Instead of just three seconds to score, Penn was given the full nine and the Red and Blue took advantage. Mathias quickly ran to the front, dodged his defender to the inside near the left post, and as he dove across the front of the crease he popped a shot over the stick of Bison goalkeeper Christian Klipstein.
It was a thrilling end to a dramatic affair, one that saw seven ties—after Penn took a 3-1 lead, the teams tied at 3-3, 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, 7-7, and 8-8.
Mathias finished the game with five assists and six points, both tying career bests; the one goal he scored was the winner. Adam Goldner (Malvern Prep) had four scores, one shy of his career high, while Kevin McGeary (Malvern Prep) had two goals and an assist.
Connor Keating (Haverford School) had a whopping eight groundballs and one caused turnover to lead the Penn defense. Tommy Sopko (Conestoga) scored once for Bucknell.
For Bucknell, Will Sands was a constant threat as he finished with two goals and two assists, and Connor O’Hara had three goals to lead the Bison. In a game that was as even as the score would indicate, Bucknell outshot Penn 30-27 and the teams split 20 faceoffs evenly, 10-10.
McGeary scored his two goals early, sandwiching them around a Sean O’Brien effort, before Goldner finished a Mathias feed to make it 3-1. Bucknell got one of those goals back late in the first quarter, then tied the score early in the second on an O’Hara goal from Sands. Just 1:03 later, that duo clicked again and the Bison were up 4-3. More than seven minutes went by before Penn leveled, Goldner again finishing a Mathias feed in front, but Bucknell’s Tom Smith scored just before the half to give the Bison a 5-4 lead at the break.
Penn needed just 48 seconds in the third to tie it up, Sean Lulley scoring off a Mathias feed, and then Goldner finished a McGeary feed to make it 6-5. Bucknell again tied it less than two minutes later on an unassisted effort by Sands, and then the teams went scoreless for more than seven minutes before JJ McBride scored off a Mathias feed to give the Quakers a 7-6 lead heading into the fourth.
Bucknell made it 7-7 with 9:07 to play, O’Hara scoring unassisted, and then Sands again scored unassisted to give the Bison the 8-7 lead with 5:45 to play. Penn needed only 38 seconds to tie it up—Goldner again, from Mathias—and that set the stage for the late-game craziness.
