UAlbany Men's Lacrosse Earns Fourth Straight Perfect America East Regular Season with 15-14 Overtime Victory at UMBC
Box Score | Box Score (PDF) | Postgame Interview - Kyle McClancy
BALTIMORE – The UAlbany men's lacrosse team earned its fourth straight perfect America East regular season on Saturday with a Kyle McClancy overtime goal leading the Great Danes to a 15-14 win at UMBC.
“Give [UMBC] a ton of credit for sticking with their gameplan and playing really hard in the second half,” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr. “But, I'm proud of my team for being able to get into overtime and getting a W.”
UAlbany (12-2, 6-0 AE) is the first program to earn a perfect America East regular season four straight times since Hofstra from 1995-98. UAlbany has won its last 22 America East regular season games and 28 games against America East opponents.
The team will ride a nine-game winning streak into the America East Tournament next weekend.
After its opponent came back from down six to force overtime, UAlbany had possession in all of overtime due to an earlier UMBC (4-10, 1-5 AE) penalty. After a couple of missed shots by UAlbany, McClancy netted his close shot with 15 seconds left for the sudden victory.
“I was trying to do a five dodge from the corner, we do it all the time in practice,” said McClancy. “I was trying to beat my man, draw a slide and move the ball, and just finish in front of the net.”
Seth Oakes tied a career-high with six goals while Connor Fields had three goals and three assists. Zach Ornstein set a new UAlbany record for ground balls in a game with 22 after going 25-29 on faceoffs, adding an assist, while John Maloney had two goals and three assists. Blaze Riorden got the victory in goal with eight saves in the game.
For UMBC, Nate Lewnes set a program record with 10 goals, including the final four for the Retrievers. Max Maxwell had a goal and four assists while Max Haldeman had two goals and three assists. Ruston Souder got the loss with 11 saves and 15 goals allowed.
UMBC struck first on a man-up chance as Nate Lewnes on a line drive under the crossbar. UAlbany countered with two quick goals as off a restart on a faceoff win, Seth Oakes hit a laser shot, then off another Zach Ornstein faceoff win, John Maloney passed off to Connor Fields, who rifled a shot inside the left post for the score. UMBC got the goal back minutes later from Lewnes to tie it up at 2-2.
Ornstein's won faceoffs continued to set up opportunities for UAlbany. Bennett Drake grabbed a ground ball near a double team and passed off to Adam Osika, who hit a shot while falling straight away. Next possession, Maloney, from left of cage, passed to John Glancy on the doorstep for the point blank range goal, sending UAlbany up 4-2 with 7:07 left.
Twice Riorden stopped UMBC possessions with saves near the crossbar. In the final minutes of the quarter, Fields scored from far side off a dodge around a defender, then Fields passed behind his back to Oakes, who shot behind his back to score. UAlbany led 6-2 after one quarter.
Immediately into the 2nd, Derrick Eccles passed away from a double team near the out-of-bounds line to Oakes, who hit the long range line drive 16 seconds in. Oakes added his fourth minutes later after a catch and shoot from Justin Reh. Riorden and the defense held its ground as Maloney got two close range goals in succession, one off a behind-the-back pass from Fields and another off his own caused turnover on a man-up shot, to complete an 8-0 UAlbany run for a 10-2 lead. UMBC added a late goal from Max Haldeman as UAlbany led 10-3 at the break.
Oakes added another goal two minutes into the third after Kyle McClancy passed through two defenders to Oakes for the catch and shoot score. UMBC scored on its next three possessions, Lewnes twice off quick shots from passes, and Haldeman on a run to the cage. Later, after two UAlbany shots on a man-up possession were saved, Lewnes hit another shot off a bouncer inside the left post to bring the home team within four at 11-7.
The last two minutes saw the action go high-paced as Osika threaded the needle to Reh in front of the goal circle for the close range goal. Jack Andrews got the goal back with 42.1 seconds left in the 3rd for UMBC, then Ornstein burst through three players on a faceoff win and passed off to Oakes for the shot and score, putting UAlbany up 13-8 after three.
The offense started the fourth with another highlight reel goal off a quick pass from Maloney to Fields in front of the goal for the score. UMBC picked up a trio of goals, one off a foiled UAlbany clear and goal on the open net, another off Max Maxwell scoring off a spin near the crease and Lewnes hitting a high shot to make it 14-11 UAlbany with 10:46 remaining.
UAlbany kept winning faceoffs, but UMBC forced turnovers on the ride and on defense. Lewnes added two more in the span of 64 seconds to bring UMBC within one at 14-13 with 4:58 left in the 4th.
UMBC got possession back with a chance to tie, and with 1:58 left, went man-up for one minute. Mid-way through the penalty, a pass from Andrews went out of bounds, and Lewnes retrieved it and shot and scored to tie the game. UAlbany got a man-up scenario in the last minute of overtime and had possession and the end of regulation to have the ball to begin overtime, tied 14-14.
UAlbany cleared the ball and fired away at the cage with chances from Oakes, McClancy and Fields missing wide. With 15 seconds left in overtime, McClancy went towards the cage and got inside of his defender and scored close range.
UAlbany will now get set for the America East Tournament, playing in its first game on Thursday, May 5th at 7 p.m. at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium.
