Box Score NEW HAVEN, Conn. – For the second consecutive season, 60 minutes wasn't enough to decide the clash between the Fairfield University men's lacrosse team and Yale University. In the 2015 edition of the in-state contest, it was host Yale – ranked as high sixth in the national polls this week – escaping with a 9-8 victory.
Fairfield, which claimed a 12-11 overtime win over Yale last spring, got two goals apiece from midfielders TJ Neubauer and Jake Knostman this afternoon. Tristan Sperry, Charlie Schnider, Joe Rodrigues and Drew Federico also scored for the Stags (2-3).
Sperry also handed out three assists to complete a four-point day, and Colin McLinden distributed his team-leading 11th helper of the season.
On the other side of the field, Tom Lukacovic picked up a team-best four ground balls for Fairfield. Brad Nordstrom made a career-high 12 saves in goal against the top-10 Bulldogs.
For Yale, it was Eric Scott who scored the first and last goals of the afternoon. His game-winner came at the 1:01 mark of the overtime session.
Scott and Ben Reeves scored the only goals of the first quarter, staking Yale to a 2-0 lead after 15 minutes of play. Michael Bonacci added a tally in the second frame before Neubauer put the Stags on the board at 13:10 in the stanza. The margin quickly grew back to three, however, as Bulldogs' goalkeeper Eric Natale uncorked a ball from deep in his own territory that found the back of the net to run the score to 4-1 in favor of the hosts with 12:47 left in the half.
At that point, the Stags went on a run to erase the first-half deficit. The surge began with a man-up goal from Knostman assisted by Sperry to cut the gap to 4-2. Sperry would assist on next two goals as well, finding Neubauer followed by Rodrigues to knot the contest at 4-4.
In the closing minute of the half, Federico buried an acrobatic goal to give Fairfield its first lead of the day at 5-4. However, Yale went on to win the ensuing draw, and Reeves scored with just 5.7 seconds left in the half. The marked ended a nearly 13-minute scoring drought for Yale and sent the clubs into the locker room knotted at 5-5.
The Stags and Bulldogs traded goals throughout the third quarter. Schnider started the back-and-forth action with a swim move to evade a defender followed by an unassisted goal at the 13:05 mark. After Bonacci responded for Yale, Sperry wrapped around the net and buried one to reclaim a one-goal lead – this time at 7-6.
The trend continued with a Michael Keasey goal for Yale to tie it up for a fourth time before Knostman's second of the day capped the third-quarter scoring and set the Stags into the final frame with an 8-7 edge.
The only tally of the fourth quarter came just 52 seconds into the stanza. Yale's Jeff Cimbalista sent home a man-up goal at the 14:08 mark to knot the game at 8-8. Nordstrom made three saves in the period to preserve the stalemate, while the Stags' defense fought off a late man-down situation and forced a Bulldogs' shot clock violation in the closing seconds of regulation to send the game into an extra session.
After a scoreless trip each way to begin overtime, Yale struck on its second possession. Scott's second goal of the day – assisted by Bonacci at the 1:01 mark – gave the 9-8 win to the Bulldogs to extend their unblemished record to 5-0.
All three of the Stags' early-season losses have come by a one-goal margin. Fairfield has also earned victories over Providence and Manhattan in the opening stages of the 2015 campaign.
The Stags complete their three-game road trip this Tuesday, March 10 at Bucknell. The Bison, who won a 9-8 overtime decision at Lehigh this afternoon, will enter the midweek contest with a record of 3-2. Fairfield returns home to Rafferty Stadium next Saturday, March 14, for a 1 p.m. meeting with Colgate.
