SCRANTON, Pa. – Senior Joe Boyle (Huntington, N.Y./St. Anthony's) scored the game-winning goal with 1:47 left and The University of Scranton men's lacrosse team (9-7, 7-1 Landmark) notched a thrilling 10-9 victory over the Susquehanna River Hawks (13-3, 7-1 Landmark) on Saturday at Weiss Field in Scranton.
The two teams sit just a half game back of first place Elizabethtown with the Royals now holding the head-to-head tiebreaker over Susquehanna.
Boyle took a feed from fellow senior Alex Eglitis (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) and saw his shot trickle into the net to give Scranton the lead and break a nine-all deadlock. The River Hawks had tied the game at nine with a goal from Nick Remund with 2:49 to play.
Following Boyle's goal, Susquehanna won the ensuing faceoff but was only able to get one shot off which went wide of the target and graduate student Colin Pierce (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) then collected a ground ball as the Royals were able to run out the clock.
Eglitis opened the scoring just 1:48 into the contest and struck for two in the first five plus minutes of the game to open an early 3-0 lead. The Royals eventually held a 4-2 lead after one before Susquehanna scored the next two goals to tie the game at four apiece. From there, Eglitis gave Scranton the lead right back at the 4:39 mark and sophomore Pat McCormack (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) found the back of the net just 0:20 later with an assist from senior Matthew McAree (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset). Junior Liam Sayre (Ramsey, N.J./Don Bosco Prep) and freshman James Lavarra (South Huntington, N.Y./Kellenberg Memorial) both got on the scoresheet over the final 2:47 and gave the Royals an 8-4 halftime advantage.
Susquehanna's Brennan Lorence tallied a pair in the third quarter to cut the deficit to 8-6 and then freshman Myles McCutcheon (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) scored in the final minute of the period which made it a 9-6 Scranton lead after three. In the fourth quarter, the River Hawks scored the first three goals including the game-tying tally from Remund which set the stage for Boyle's afore-mentioned game-winner a minute later.
Eglitis led the way offensively with four points on three goals and an assist, while McCutcheon scored two goals and McAree added three assists.
McAree now has exactly 200 points in his career, becoming the second player in program history to reach the milestone.
Elsewhere for Scranton, Pierce registered four caused turnovers and senior Andrew Lord (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) added a game-high six ground balls. Sophomore goalie Declan Allen (Garden City, N.Y./Millbrook) made nine saves to earn the victory.
Lorence paced Susquehanna with a hat trick in the setback.
The Royals will host Moravian to wrap up the regular season on Saturday, Apr. 27 at 1 p.m. at Weiss Field.
--ROYALS--
