It was a back-and-forth game all afternoon at the Dalers Lacrosse Classic in Farmingdale, N.Y. For the second straight game, the Massachusetts men’s lacrosse team lost by just one goal, falling to No.19 Rutgers 10-9.
UMass (4-3) ultimately fell short to Rutgers (6-2) after failing to tie the game in the final seconds. It was a chaotic final half minute with the Minutemen trailing by one goal. Zach Auble turned the ball over to Rutgers but then got it right back a few seconds later, setting the Minutemen up for one last chance.
After a penalty on the Scarlet Knights with six seconds left, the Gorillas had a man-up opportunity on the last second shot by Grant Breyo. That shot was saved by Rutgers goalkeeper Cardin Stoller, a save that resulted in another heart-breaking one goal loss, the third of the season for the Minutemen.
The crowd of 1,540 in Farmingdale was treated to a close and competitive defensive game on Saturday afternoon. Both goalkeepers were special in the net, as Stoller recorded a season-high 19 saves, while UMass goalkeeper Matt Knote tied his second-most saves of the season with 16 after having a season-high 19 saves in the last game against Vermont.
The Gorillas held several leads throughout the game and had their largest lead of the day at halftime, leading 7-5. From that point on the UMass offense went cold and Rutgers scored three consecutive goals to start the third quarter, taking an 8-7 lead. The game was tied at 9-9 after a Charles Kurtz goal with 12 minutes left in the game but the Minutemen would not score again.
The Minutemen scored just two goals in the second half as their offense grounded to a halt. UMass had three man-up chances in the second half, including the last shot of the game and could not convert on any of them. UMass has struggled in its limited man-up opportunities this season, scoring on 28.6 percent of them coming into the game and its seven man-up attempts this season were the fewest in the nation coming into Saturday’s contest.
Breyo led the Gorillas offensively with two goals and two assists against the Scarlet Knights. He ripped one from long-range to open the scoring off an assist from Mason Bregman in the first quarter. Breyo later got on the board with two minutes left in the first half on a bounce shot as he was falling with the shot clock expiring.
Mike Tobin tallied one goal and two assists along with five ground balls. Anthony Sericolo also added a goal and assisted on two of them for the Minutemen.
UMass returns to action when it travels to Providence, R.I. to take on Brown on Friday, March 22. Face-off is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Marco Lopez can be reached at [email protected].
