WEST POINT, N.Y. – Keyed by a 7-0 fourth quarter run spanning 4:56, Army shocked Lafayette with a 13-12 come-from-behind victory, Tuesday night in Patriot League lacrosse action at Michie Stadium.

Sophomore attackman Jeremy Boltus tallied a career-high seven points on three goals and four assists, while senior attackman Jason Peyer added three goals and an assist to spur the Army (6-7, 2-4 Patriot League) comeback.

Lafayette (5-7, 1-4 Patriot League) appeared to have snuffed out Army's slim hopes of sneaking out a berth in the Patriot League Tournament, dominating the first three quarters of play to the tune of a 10-5 lead with 13:44 to play in the game. However, an unassisted goal by Peyer at 10:44 started the Black Knights' seven-goal flurry which included two goals and an assist by Peyer, two goals by senior attackman Brook Korvin and a goal and two assists by Boltus, that put Army in the lead, 12-10 with 4:50 remaining in regulation. Five of the goals came in a span of only 1:33.

Lafayette would halt the run on junior attackman Matt Mersky's fourth goal of the game to pull back within one, 12-11, with 3:06 to play, but junior Midfielder Andrew Maisano stuffed home his second goal of the game off a pass from Boltus with 1:35 to play to put Army back on top by two. The Leopards would add a goal with 17 seconds left, but Army would win the ensuing faceoff and run out the clock and take the victory.

"Tonight was a great win," said Army head coach Joe Alberici. "Our guys showed a tremendous amount of character in the fourth quarter when they were down, 10-5, when lesser men would have quit. Our guys kept battling and got a little momentum going and started to believe we could come back. It was a great showing for Army Lacrosse."

"In the fourth quarter, it was like a light switch went off and things just started clicking for us," said Boltus. "In the first half, their goalie was really hot. He got into our heads and we didn't know where to shoot. We just kept chipping away, one by one, and it eventually went our way. It was a great team win."

Lafayette jumped out to a 4-1 first quarter lead and extended it to 6-1 midway through the second quarter. Sophomore attackman Tom Perini scored a man-up goal at 10:39 and added another at 4:53 to put the Leopards up, 2-0. Army senior midfielder Kevin LoRusso took a feed from behind the Lafayette goal from Peyer and scored on a 12-yard shot to put the Black Knights on the board with 1:59 on the clock.

Perini tallied his third goal of the first quarter after grabbing a loose ball just outside the Army crease and stuffing it home with 51 seconds showing. Mersky beat the clock with 1.1 on the clock off an assist from Perini to give the visitors a three-goal edge after the first period.

Freshman attackman Greg Allis tallied an unassisted goal at 10:33 to start the second quarter scoring, before Mersky was able to score with a Black Knight defender draped all over him to stake the Leopards to a five-goal lead with 7:28 remaining in the first half. Army would pull within three goals by halftime as senior midfielder Alex Rhoads made a run from 15-yards away and scored at the 6:41 mark and Peyer finished off a nice pass from freshman midfielder Matt Hurley for a fast break goal with 23 seconds on the clock to make it a 6-3 game after two quarters of play.

"Lafayette was very opportunistic in the first half," continued Alberici. " I counted three goals that came directly from their ground ball play and there were two others that came on man-up attempts. For us, we were 3-of-26 shooting, which can be directly attributed to their goalie, who made 12 saves before halftime. He was on fire."

1 2    Next  »

2009-04-15