WINTER PARK, Fla. (March 7, 2009) - After
trailing 3-7 at the half, the Rollins men's lacrosse team rallied
to score 12 goals and give the Queens University of Charlotte
Royals a run for their money in the final two periods. Despite the
second half outburst, the Tars fell to the Royals 16-15 in
regulation.
Rollins (1-1) was led by sophomore transfer BJ
Neller with four goals and one assist, while Queens (2-2) was
headed-up by Stephan LeBlanc with four goals and two assists on the
afternoon.
The Tars saw scoring action from eight different players as
Neller was joined by freshman attacker Cooper
Gilman who tallied three goals and two assists to match Neller
in overall points. Fellow freshman Austin
Ricci ripped the ball between the pipes three times as well,
while Jay
McDermott, Clay
Palmer, Matthew
Lunnen, Alex
Patch, and Dan
Huettenmoser found the back of the net once.
Zach
Cole remained steadfast as always between the pipes as he
collected 16 saves on the afternoon after seeing a total of 41
shots. Defensively, the Tars were led once again by freshman long
pole Andrew
Vossler who led the team with four ground balls.
A solid defensive unit helped hold the Royals to just 50 percent
in extra-man situations, while the Tars found success on 66 percent
of their power play opportunities, which helped spark their 12-goal
scoring spree in the final 30 minutes of action as they were
2-for-2 and 2-for-3 in extra man opportunities.
The game started out with plenty of back and forth action as the
Royals jumped on the board first with a LeBlanc goal just 36
seconds into the contest. Huettenmoser retaliated with a goal of
his own to put the Tars up alongside Queens, and with 10:41
remaining in the second quarter an unassisted goal from Neller
helped equalize the score at 3-3. But, the Royals jumped on the
Tars as they sat back on their heels for the final ten minutes of
second quarter play, leaving the Tars in a four point deficit
entering into the half.
Rollins came out of the break with a different mind set as a
quick connection from Gilman to Neller closed the gap to 7-4.
LeBlanc rallied a goal of his own to pull the lead to four once
again, but McDermott pulled the Tars closer as his unassisted goal
just 23 seconds later ignited the team.
33 seconds after McDermott's goal, Gilman held onto a pass from
Lunnen to pull Rollins to within two. 37 seconds afterward, Andrew
Cohen fed Neller a smooth pass on a fast break to bring the
score to 8-7. Neller evened up the tally at eight with his fourth
goal of the afternoon, but Queens closed out the third period with
two quick goals to enter into the final quarter leading 10-8.
Rollins was not about to back down despite the Royals opening up
the final period by jumping out to a six point lead with a score of
15-9 and 9:29 remaining.
Ricci opened up a scoring stretch for Rollins as his first goal
with 8:44 turned up the heat. Two minutes later Neller found
Palmer to bring the tally to 15-11, and with Gilman's second goal
of the day registering with 5:12 to go, the Tars found themselves
steadily closing in on Queens. Ricci helped quickly bring Rollins
to within one goal as Ian
Tarrant and Gilman helped him fire off two goals in just 14
seconds to close the gap to 15-14.
Despite a tough Rollins defense, the Royals were able to secure
their final goal of the game with an unassisted tally from Andrew
Capallo as the clock counted down. Lunnen found Gilman with just
1:26 left in fourth-quarter action to put the score at 16-15, but
the Tars were unable to pull out an equalizer in the final seconds
to send the game into overtime.
The Tars will be back in action on Tuesday, March 10 when they
open up their Deep South Conference line up against Catawba College
in a 2:00 p.m. home match in Winter Park. Fans can stay up to date
on all of the latest Rollins men's lacrosse action at the Tars home
on the web at www.RollinsSports.com.
