They fought their way back and clawed with everything they had, but in the end it just was just not enough.
After erasing a 5-1 halftime deficit, the UNH men’s club lacrosse team fell to Boston College, 10-9, in double overtime in the Pioneer Collegiate Lacrosse League Championship Sunday afternoon at Outer Field in Durham.
With the win, BC earned the PCLL’s automatic bid to the MCLA National Tournament in Denver, while the Wildcats’ season is now over.
“We showed a lot of character, being down the way that we were at half,” UNH head coach Jake Sullivan said. “We came back and clawed right back into that game.”
After winning the opening faceoff, the Eagles appeared to be in complete control in the early going. BC midfielder Mike McCarthy struck first two minutes in to give the Eagles a 1-0 lead, and Christian Falco scored less that a minute later when his shot hit the right post but trickled into the net past diving UNH goalie Jake Katz.
The loss overshadowed a stellar performance by Katz, who finished with 24 saves, 14 of them coming in the second half and overtime.
BC would add two more goals in the second quarter before the Wildcats finally got on the board when freshman Joe Gardiner fought through a penalty hit to the head to beat BC goalie Nick Shea and close the deficit to 4-1.
From the outset, the physical nature of the game was evident. Both teams battled hard for ground balls, while multiple players were sent to the turf by strong open-field hits. The Wildcats could not find a way to pick the lock that was the BC defense, as the Eagle long sticks continuously pounded Gardiner and the rest of the UNH attackers.
Trailing 5-1 to start the second half, however, the Wildcats came out with a newfound fire.
“We switched over to an open set [in the second half], we tried to take guys off the crease,” Sullivan said. “By switching over… and being able to backdoor them a little bit we were able to create a little more offense.”
That may be a bit of an understatement. The Wildcats exploded for six goals in the third quarter, peppering Shea with 15 shots and regaining the offensive production that they lacked in the first half.
Senior Mike Maloney netted the first on a leaping goal from the left side to cut the lead to 5-2. Gardiner then recorded his second goal of the day with a looping shot that floated over the shoulder of Shea.
A BC holding penalty led to a man-up advantage for UNH, and the Wildcats capitalized, with Gardiner hitting James Rubio to cut the deficit to one.
After a defensive lapse allowed BC’s Mike Racanelli to race the length of the field and beat Katz to make it 6-4, Gardiner fed Rubio again from behind the net for Rubio’s second of the day.
“James Rubio had two excellent backdoor cuts and stuck it top corner,” Sullivan said. “He had a hell of a game. It’s the way a senior should go out.”
Freshman Garrett Buckley then tied the game on a snipe that hit the netting just inside of the crossbar. After two Buckley shots missed wide of the net on UNH’s next possession to give the ball back to BC, a turnover at midfield set up a UNH breakaway. Sophomore Evan Flower sprinted unopposed to the BC net, then beat Shea one-on-one to give the Wildcats their first lead of the game and send the crowd into a frenzy.
“Our motto all year has been to pretty much chill and our coach just said to keep our composure,” Maloney said. “They went [up] 5-1 in the first half and I think we went 6-1 in the third quarter, so it was huge.”
Gardiner and Rubio hooked up again to start the fourth quarter, this time Rubio taking possession in the UNH end and bringing the ball up the right sideline before feeding Gardiner in front of the net for the score.
The Eagles then mounted a comeback of their own. Racanelli took advantage of a man-up situation with a goal from the left slot, and then Donald Conway tied the score with another agonizingly slow roller that Katz initially saved but was unable to hold on to.
A BC slashing penalty led to a man-up goal by Flower, off an assist by junior Dan Milano, to give the Wildcats a 9-8 lead with under five minutes remaining, but BC’s Tom Luckey netted the equalizer with two minutes left to send the game into overtime.
After both teams were held scoreless in the first five-minute extra session, BC slipped the game-winner past Katz three minutes into the second overtime to give the Eagles a 10-9 win.
Fatigue seemed to set in for the Wildcats in overtime, as they were repeatedly unable to clear it out of their zone, and managed only one shot in the extra periods. Temperatures on the new turf also approached 90 degrees late in the game.
“A couple of tough penalties there let them knot it up, and then that’s the reason you play the game is for overtime,” Sullivan said. “It was an exciting game, the last ball just didn’t bounce our way.”
Gardiner led all scorers with three goals and two assists, while Rubio tallied a goal and two assists and Flower netted two goals. Maloney and Buckley had one goal apiece, and Milano and sophomore Steven Eurieck each tallied an assist.
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