by Recap
Tehoka Nanticoke’s (Mohawk) man-up goal with 1:08 left in the fourth quarter helped the University at Albany men’s lacrosse team survive a UMBC rally and win, 9-7, on Saturday, April 13, at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium.
With the victory, UAlbany remained in a three-way tie atop the America East standings with Stony Brook and Vermont, all three of whom are 3-1. The league’s No. 1 seed will host the America East tournament May 4 and 6.
UAlbany raced to a 6-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, then held on after UMBC clamped down defensively and got within 8-7 with 4:42 left in the game.
Great Danes goalkeeper Nate Siekierski made 10 stops, and close defenseman Matt Perlacaused a turnover in the final minutes that helped the Great Danes hold onto their one-goal advantage.
Nanticoke led UAlbany with three goals and an assist, and Sean Eccles posted two goals and an assist to pace the Great Danes’ offense. Kyle Casey, Jakob Patterson, Teioshontathe McComber and Pat Barrow also scored for UAlbany.
“We’re just going to keep working, keep practicing, keep trying to put ourselves in position to win the conference tournament and go to the NCAA Tournament,” said Scott Marr, UAlbany’s head coach. “I was proud of my guys for hanging in there. I thought the defense played great. We had some key ground balls there at the end of the game. Jack Burgmaster, Matt Perlaplayed awesome.”
UAlbany led 8-7 when UMBC’s Gunnar Schimoler received a one-minute slashing penalty with 1:52 to play. Forty-four seconds into the man-up, Nanticoke ripped a shot from about 12 yards out that gave the Great Danes a two-goal cushion and sent the crowd of 2,180 into a frenzy.
In the first quarter, UBMC opened the scoring less than three minutes into the game, but the Great Danes appeared in control after scoring the next six in a row.
After the Retrievers cut the lead to three, 6-3, UAlbany tacked on a goal with just two seconds remaining in the first half, thanks to an outstanding individual effort from Nanticoke. The sophomore bullied his way through a pair of long sticks and shuffled a pass to Patterson, who scored low before the horn sounded.
UAlbany then got a long-pole goal to open the second-half scoring, when Pat Barrow laced a shot in transition to make it 8-3.
But UMBC ran off four straight before Nanticoke stopped the spurt in the final two minutes.
