No.2 UMass Defeats Men's Lax at Battle of Bethpage II, 8-6

Saturday, April 14

Bethpage, N.Y.

2:00

Drexel University

#2 UMass

No.2 UMass Defeats Men's Lax at Battle of Bethpage II, 8-6

4/14/2012 4:02:00 PM | Men's Lacrosse

Box Score

Bethpage, N.Y.– No. 2 UMass scored an extra-man goal midway through the fourth quarter to break a 4-4 tie and defeated Drexel, 8-6. Drexel fell to 3-2 in the Colonial Athletic Association and 5-7 overall. UMass remained unbeaten at 11-0 overall and 4-0 in league play.

Colin Fleming of UMass took a pass from Connor Mooney and bounced a shot past Mark Manos with just 6:50 to play to give the Minutemen a 5-4 lead. The Minutemen would not trail again. The lead increased to two goals when Steve D'Amario scored at the 5:20 mark to make it 6-4. Drexel wasn't done yet, however, as senior Kevin Stockel picked up his own rebound and scored his third goal of the year with just 1:38 to play to cut the deficit back to one. The Minutemen got possession after the next face off and worked the ball around forcing the Dragons to press. With the Dragons net open, UMass was able to add two more goals in the last minute, one by Mooney and one by Biscardi, to put the game out of reach. Nick Saputo's man-down goal for Drexel made the final score 8-6

The two teams played a defensive battle in the early going. Neither team was able to get on the board for the first 12 minutes of the game. Drexel finally broke the drought when Ben McIntosh fired a shot from 10 yards away over the left shoulder of UMass keeper Tim McCormick. The Dragons increased the lead to two just 28 seconds when Aaron Prosser fired shot home from straight on. The Dragons would keep UMass' powerful offense without a goal for the first quarter and for the first 20 minutes of the game. The Minutemen finally got on the board when Steve D'Amario beat Mark Manos at the 9:44 mark of the second quarter. UMass would tie the game at 2-2 when Will Manny, the nation's leading point man, scored halfway through the second period. Each team added a goal, with Aaron Prosser scoring for Drexel and Biscardi tallying for the Minutemen, as the teams went to intermission tied at 3-3.

Drexel's defense played well in the loss, holding the fifth-best scoring team in the nation to five goals below its average. Manos made eight saves for Drexel in the loss and two of the goals the Minutemen scored were with him out of the cage. Tim McCormack made 14 saves, including nine in the second half as the Minutemen remained unbeaten. Drexel outshot UMass, 33-28, but won just six of 17 face-offs and was 0-for-4 with the man advantage.

The Dragons return to the road next Saturday night when they visit Towson in their final CAA game of the season. Drexel concludes the 2012 season on April 28 at home against St. John's in a non-conference contest.