SU Men’s Lacrosse v Stevenson – It Was Not to Be!

Stevenson men's lacrosse junior Pat Candon scored his third game-winning goal of the season with just 1:22 remaining in overtime to lift the No. 7 Mustangs to a 9-8 road victory over rival and 12th-ranked Salisbury Wednesday at Sea Gull Stadium. It was the Seagulls second overtime loss this year.

Wednesday marked just the second overtime game out of 18 in the Salisbury-Stevenson series and the first since May 23, 2010. Stevenson (5-3) has now won three of the last four in the series. Salisbury is the leader overall, however.

After three-straight goals to start the fourth quarter by seniors Paul Danko and Tony Rossi and junior Stephen Banick, the Mustangs held an 8-6 lead with just 2:55 remaining. The Sea Gulls (6-4) scored two goals in the final 1:10, tying the game on a 6-on-4 extra-man opportunity with just 11 seconds remaining.

Salisbury then had a chance to win the game with 2:46 left in overtime after a Stevenson penalty gave the Sea Gulls their seventh extra-man opportunity of the night which led to a one-on-none opportunity for Mike Kane that was saved by junior Ben Richards.

On the ensuing possession, the Mustangs called a timeout while waiting for the penalty to expire before Candon beat his man one-on-one and scored in front of the crease to give Stevenson back-to-back wins over Cortland and Salisbury.

Richards, who finished with a season-high 13 saves, totaled seven in the fourth quarter and overtime, including the one on Kane to extend the game for the Mustangs. He highlighted a defensive effort that held the Sea Gulls without a shot for a span of 16:03 over the third and fourth quarters while holding Salisbury to just 1-for-7 on the extra-man.

Senior Josh Rufolo also added four caused turnovers while freshman Dom DeFazio had five ground balls in his first career start, filling in for senior Taylor Morgan.

Led by three goals from Carson Kalama, the Sea Gulls jumped out to a 3-1 lead until Danko scored with just five seconds left in the first quarter to key a 3-0 run for the Mustangs who took a 4-3 advantage with 13:14 remaining in the second.

After man-up goals by junior Matt Tompkins and senior Colin Dabney just 24 seconds apart, Kalama scored his fourth goal of the game to tie the game at 4-4 with 8:28 to play in the half. Candon put Stevenson back in front with a third-straight man-up goal before Sean Fitzgerald scored at 1:55 to tie the game at 5-5 at halftime.

The Mustangs outshot Salisbury 40-33, but won just 5-of-19 faceoffs. Candon finished with two goals and now leads the team with 14 this season while Banick totaled four points on two goals and two assists.

Kalama totaled four goals for the Sea Gulls while Fitzgerald had one goal and four assists. Connor Anderson made 11 saves.

There were numerous penalties, including one of three minutes against Salisbury for an illegal stick.

This loss probably means that the Seagull’s only chance to make the NCAA tournament field is to win the Capital Conference championship.