Postgame Press Conference

SCRANTON, Pa. – Senior Matthew McAree (Manhasset, N.Y./Manhasset) scored the game-winning goal 1:07 into overtime and The University of Scranton men's lacrosse team (14-7) captured the first NCAA Tournament win in program history with a thrilling 10-9 victory over the John Carroll Blue Streaks (11-5) on Wednesday at Weiss Field in Scranton.

With the victory, the Royals advance to Saturday's second round game at Dickinson with action slated to get underway at 12 p.m.

After a long battle in the faceoff circle to begin overtime, junior John O'Connor (Rocky Point, N.Y./Rocky Point) collected the ground ball to give the Royals possession and a chance to win. Senior Joe Boyle (Huntington, N.Y./St. Anthony's) sent a pass to McAree who sent a John Carroll defender into the air with a fake and rifled home the game-winner.

Scranton had tied the game at nine with 2:10 to go in regulation as senior Dom Gubitosi (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) fed classmate Kyle Bennett (Havertown, Pa./Haverford) who buried a shot for his second goal of the season and a tie game. On the ensuing John Carroll possession, sophomore goalie Declan Allen (Garden City, N.Y./Millbrook) made a save to keep things deadlocked at nine and eventually send the game to overtime.

This also marked the first ever meeting between the Royals and the Blue Streaks.

Boyle opened the scoring just 0:55 into the game, but the Blue Streaks then scored the next three goals before a late goal from McAree cut the deficit to 3-2 after one. John Carroll added two more goals with less than five minutes to go in the second quarter, but a tally from sophomore Kyle Holmes (Bridgewater, N.J./Bridgewater-Raritan) with one second remaining in the half helped shift the momentum and make it a 5-3 game.

Holmes struck again in the early stages of the third quarter and the Blue Streaks were able to respond a minute plus later that opened up a 6-4 edge for the time being. From there, senior Alex Eglitis (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) and sophomores Myles McCutcheon (Ridgewood, N.J./Ridgewood) and Pat McCormack (Livingston, N.J./Livingston) scored in a span of 2:14 that gave the Royals a 7-6 lead later in the quarter but John Carroll's Colin Morrissey scored at the 2:46 mark to tie the game at seven apiece after three. The two sides continued to trade punches and McAree's goal tied the game at eight with 5:35 remaining before a Blue Streaks goal at the 4:01 mark set the stage for Bennett's clutch game-tying goal and McAree's eventual OT winner.

McAree led the way offensively with three goals, while Holmes scored twice and sophomore Jason Kozak (Floral Park, N.Y./Floral Park) added a pair of assists. O'Connor won 13-of-22 faceoffs and scooped up five ground balls.

Graduate student Colin Pierce (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) led the way with seven ground balls and two caused turnovers and Allen made 11 saves in the victory.

Braden Zarek paced John Carroll with four points on a goal and three assists.

A full preview of Saturday's game will be posted on Friday at athletics.scranton.edu.

--ROYALS--