Riorden's 18 Saves Sends #9/10 UAlbany Men's Lacrosse to Third Straight Win in 10-9 Victory over RV/RV Harvard
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ALBANY, N.Y. – With Blaze Riorden saving his 18th shot in the last second off a Will Walker attempt, the #9/10 UAlbany men's lacrosse team held off a late RV/RV Harvard comeback to pick up the 10-9 victory on Wednesday night.
UAlbany (6-2) picked up its third straight victory overall and fourth straight win at home this season. With 18 seconds left, Harvard (5-5) called a timeout after a clear. Walker got off a turnaround shot in the final second as Riorden knocked it down near the left post to hold for the UAlbany win. UAlbany led in shots 41-36 and dominated faceoffs 15-6.
“We played team defense, and we kept the ball on the floor as much as possible,” said Riorden. “They took a lot of shots, and they are fast and play a lot of transition, but our team defense played great overall.”
“I can't state enough what an outstanding performance by Blaze [Riorden],” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr. “I thought we did a great job giving up shots he can see, but he made some unbelievable saves tonight.”
On the offensive side, Seth Oakes scored UAlbany's first three goals, netting four overall while Justin Reh earned three goals and an assist. Bennett Drake finished with a goal and an assist. Zach Ornstein won 15 out of the 21 faceoffs, grabbing nine ground balls.
“You always get excited when you play a good team,” said Oakes. “They played very physical, and I tried to be physical back.
For Harvard, Walker, Sean McDonagh and Joe Lang all had two goals each. Robert Shaw got the loss in goal, saving 14 shots.
Off a scrum, John Maloney found an open Oakes in front of the cage for a UAlbany lead just over three minutes in. Harvard countered with a man-up scenario as Morgan Cheek scored with 7:07 left. Oakes continued to fire away, scoring a goal on a blazing shot to the corner and another off a roll dodge toward the cage and score. UAlbany got the ball back and attacked as Shaw saved four shots in the final four minutes of the 1st. UAlbany led 3-1.
UAlbany protected against an early man-up situation with a Riorden save. The other way, Reh emerged from behind the cage as the goalie came after him, scoring on the open net. Harvard got two back in the coming minutes to pull within one. Riorden saved two more shots as UAlbany got a late possession. After a turnover by each side near the end line, Reh took a shot in the half's final seconds and scored to make it 5-3 UAlbany at the break.
Into the third, the action picked up as each side shot the ball with the other saving the ball. Riorden saved five shots in the first six minutes of the quarter while Shaw stopped a pair. After three wide shots, UAlbany draw a man-up penalty. Jake Cullen passed to Sean Eccles for the rip shot and score. Next possession, Ornstein won the faceoff, and after some passing, Reh received the pass from Drake and bounced the ball in front of the cage past the keeper for a 7-3 UAlbany lead.
Harvard grabbed two quick goals Ian Ardrey scored, then Walker stole the ball after a UAlbany faceoff win and scored point blank. Towards the end of the quarter, Connor Fields scored on a shot clock warning to put UAlbany up 8-5 going into the 4th.
After five minutes of back and forth play with no scores, Harvard scored on a second attempt from Lang, adding another goal quickly off the faceoff from McDonagh scoring 20 seconds later. UAlbany won the next faceoff and called a timeout. After two missed shots, Drake scored on a line drive between the keeper's feet. Quickly thereafter, Zach Wolfe picked up a ground ball off the faceoff and fed Oakes for the score, giving UAlbany a 10-7 lead with 8:28 remaining.
UAlbany held on another man-down possession with Riorden making a high save. Back and forth the teams went until with 3:29 left, McDonagh scored his second goal. UAlbany tried to hold possession but lost it, and on the next possession, Walker scored to pull Harvard within one with 1:51 left.
Ornstein won the next faceoff as UAlbany drained 1:15 on the clock. Harvard forced a turnover and cleared. Riorden stopped Walker's final shot as UAlbany earned the victory.
UAlbany returns to conference play this weekend, heading east to play UMass Lowell on Saturday, April 2nd at 2 p.m.
