Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

A free and responsible press serving the UMass community since 1890

Massachusetts Daily Collegian

UMass drops first game against Albany

Maria Uminski/Collegian
Maria Uminski/Collegian

The No. 5 Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team could not dig itself out of a 6-2 halftime deficit, dropping its first game of the season, 9-8, at Albany on Tuesday.

Senior midfielder Ryan Hantverk beat Albany goalkeeper Edmund Cathers with 30.2 seconds remaining with the Minutemen down one, 9-8. UMass’ Greg Rushing won the ensuing faceoff and UMass coach Greg Cannella called timeout to give the Minutemen one last chance to tie. Mike Fetterly had a solid look, but Cathers stoned him with seconds remaining for one of his eight saves in the final period.

“Give Cathers credit…” said Cannella. “He [stood] in there and made the save.”

Minutemen goalkeeper Tim McCormack made 10 saves in his first loss of the season, while Cathers, a freshman, tallied 17 saves and surrendered just 8 goals to a UMass team that was averaging 10.5 scores per contest this season.

Joe Resetarits had three goals for the Great Danes (2-1), including two crucial fourth quarter scores to secure the victory for the home team. Hantverk, Connor Mooney and Art Kell each cashed in with a pair of goals for the Minutemen (4-1), who dropped their first game of the season.

“Our guys gave a tremendous effort,” said Cannella. “Give Albany a lot of credit. It was a really good win for them. But our guys fought back. They never quit on each other and that’s a really good sign to come back on the road.”

Trailing 7-4 in the third period, UMass strung together back-to-back scores from Kyle Smith and Kell to cut the lead to one. Resetarits’ second goal extended the lead to two after beating Tim McCormack with 10:55 remaining in the game. Less than a minute later, Mooney netted his second goal to make it 8-7, but Resetarits responded yet again to push the margin back to two.

“It seemed like every time we made a run, Albany was able to respond…and that’s what good teams do, especially at home,” said Cannella.

The Minutemen outshot Albany, 47-28, including a 20-2 advantage in the fourth quarter, but UMass could not find the equalizer.

The Maroon and White got off to a slow start, quickly falling behind, 2-0, after first period goals from Resetarits and Ty Thompson at the 0:55 and 3:30 marks respectively. Kell put the Minutemen on the board later in the first on an assist from Will Manny at the 7:36 mark, but the Great Danes countered with three unanswered goals over the first and second frames from Miles Thompson, Rocky Bonitatibus and Matt Johnson to create a five-goal advantage.

The Minutemen stormed out of the gates at the break, outscoring its host, 4-1, in the third frame to help cut the deficit and keep themselves in the game.

“They dominated possession…” said Cannella. “They won faceoffs and slowed the ball down … [The early deficit had] more to do with Albany than anything else.”

UMass was in a similar situation two against Hartford earlier in the year, trailing 7-5 at halftime. The Minutemen dominated the second half of that one to grab a 14-10 victory, but they were not so fortunate this time around.

The loss marks the fourth-consecutive time UMass has fallen to Albany at John Fallon Field, with its last victory coming in March of 2002.

“I expect [the team] to come back out on Thursday for practice and work extremely hard,” said Cannella.

The Minutemen remain on the road for four of their next five contests as they try to rebound at Providence on March 15 at 4 p.m.

Stephen Sellner can be reached at [email protected].

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