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Moon Township, PA – Junior Andrew Scalley (Arnold, MD/Archbishop Spalding) dealt the knockout punch with just 2:10 remaining in overtime, sending Mount St. Mary’s back to the Northeast Conference Championship Game with a 16-15 victory over top-seeded and 20th-ranked Robert Morris Friday evening at Joe Walton Stadium. The Mount, which will face either No. 2 Bryant or No. 3 Quinnipiac on Sunday, May 6, at 1:00 pm, improves to 6-8 overall. Robert Morris, meanwhile, suffers its first loss since Mar. 20 and ends its season at 11-4.
Scalley punched his team's ticket to the championship bout when he beat redshirt junior Dillon Pope (Smithtown, NY/Smithtown West) with a high shot on the run following a door-step save by sophomore Chris Klaiber (Lafayette, NY/Lafayette) at the other end of the field. It marked his fourth of the game and second straight score after he evened the slate at 15-all with 2:22 remaining in the fourth.
In the highest scoring game in the short history of the NEC Men’s Lacrosse Championship Tournament, both teams had to fight back at times early on before playing even for most of the fourth quarter.
Mount St. Mary’s controlled most of the first quarter, jumping out to a 3-1 lead. RMU answered back in a big way though, running off the next eight straight scores, including three by senior Casey Abbott (San Jose, CA/Bellarmine Prep).
The Mountaineers stifled the run shortly after Abbott’s third with 5:55 to play. Daniel Stranix (Ridley Park, PA/Ridley) connected off a pass from Scalley at the 5:05 mark before Scalley got in on the scoring action himself, finding the back of the net unassisted at 2:22. Christian Kellett (Audobon, PA/Malvern Prep) closed out the three-goal run with just seven seconds remaining, sending the teams into the locker room with an 8-6 score in favor of the Colonials.
Robert Morris continued to push the score while Mount St. Mary’s kept pace, keeping the game within three until Mount caught fire and stormed back to flip the 12-9 score and take a 14-12 lead in the fourth. RMU, however, reeled off three in a row during the final eight minutes before Scalley’s game-tying tally.
For Robert Morris, 2012 NEC Player of the Year Kiel Matisz (Stoney Creek, Ontario/Saltfleet) led all scorers in the game with four goals and six points. Redshirt junior Dave Morton (Orangeville, Ontario/The Hill School) and Abbott each had three goals, and junior Jake Hayes (Calgary, Alberta/Central Memorial) finished the evening with two goals and three points.
Mount St. Mary’s saw Kellett finish with a hat trick and three points, while Anthony Golden (Timonium, MD/Loyola Blakefield), Brett Schimdt (Great Mills, MD/St. Mary's Ryken) and Clayton Wainer (San Diego, CA/W.T. Woodson) all had two goals apiece.
Klaiber ended the game with 11 saves, including five in each of the second and third quarters. Freshman Matt Bukovac (Ashburn, VA/Briar Woods) started the game and made 10 stops before giving way to Pope, who recorded four saves through 15:31 worth of action.
RMU finished the game with a 44-41 edge in shots and also held an advantage in ground balls, 33-29. Mount St. Mary's edged the home team in faceoffs, winning 21-of-35 attempts thanks to the play of Jon Marsalese (Huntington Woods, MI/Detroit Jesuit), who won 19 of those 21 attempts.