BARDONIA, N.Y. (March 31) – The Wheeling Jesuit University men's lacrosse scored a goal in the final seconds of overtime to come away with a 17-16 victory at Dominican (N.Y.) on Sunday afternoon.
The Cardinals climb to 3-7 overall with the win, while the Chargers drop to 1-6 on the season with the loss.
Three Cardinals registered five points by the end of the match. Freshman attack Colton Abate (Pittsburgh, Pa./Peters Township) did so by scoring four goals and dishing out an assist. Senior attack Jamison Smith (Butler, Pa./Butler) combined one goal with four assists to record his five points. Freshman attack Connor O'Brien (New Albany, Ohio/St. Francis DeSales) served up a game-high five assists to reach five points for himself.
DC opened the scoring two and a half minutes into the first quarter. WJU followed with back-to-back goals, going ahead 2-1. The teams traded goals for the remainder of the opening period to give Wheeling Jesuit a 4-3 advantage going into the second quarter.
The Cardinals scored three goals to start the second period with one goal allowed in between to give them a 7-4 lead. Dominican answered with three consecutive goals to draw the match level, 7-7. The teams went back to trading goals until the Chargers scored twice to end the half, putting them up 10-9.
Dominican carried its momentum over to the second half by grabbing two more unanswered goals. Wheeling Jesuit then proceeded to score four goals in succession, with three of them coming in man-up situations, and thereby gained a one-goal advantage over the Chargers. Dominican pulled one back in the closing seconds of the third quarter to tie the game at 13-13.
Each team scored three times in the fourth quarter to force an overtime period. A second overtime period seemed imminent with neither team being able to score going into the final minute. However, an unnecessary roughness penalty committed by the Chargers gave the Cardinals a man-up advantage. Smith seized the opportunity and ripped the game-winner into the back of the net with 32 seconds left on the clock.
Sophomore goalkeeper PJ Campion (McLean, Va./McLean) made 14 saves in the winning effort.
Wheeling Jesuit capitalized on its extra man opportunities, scoring nine times in 12 attempts.
The Cardinals travel to Lake Erie next on Saturday, April 6 for a Great Midwestern Athletic Conference clash at 1 p.m.
