MEQUON, Wis. – Benedictine University scored six unanswered goals over the final 35 minutes of the Midwest Lacrosse Conference game on Wednesday afternoon to shock Concordia University Wisconsin in an 8-7 decision.
The Falcons led 7-2 with 6:48 to play before halftime and appeared to have all the momentum at Fitting Field. However, their offense stalled in the second half and the Eagles slowly added goals to the scoreboard until Dominic DePinto recorded the game-winner with 1:08 to play in the chippy contest.
CUW still had its chances at the end to tie the game in regulation. After winning the faceoff, they caused a turnover with 52 seconds to play and Derek Brueske proceeded to take a shot with 47 seconds on the clock. The Falcons retained possession following the misfire and were able to get another shot at the net with six seconds remaining by junior Matt Garvey (Winnipeg, Manitoba) that was saved by Benedictine's Jeremy Voyda.
Brueske then nearly had a highlight-real play with a point-blank shot in front of the Eagles goalkeeper with two seconds to play, but Voyda made the save to protect the visitor's win. CUW dominated numerous statistical categories; including shots (40-21), ground balls (27-16) and faceoff wins (15-3). They also were 2-of-5 on man-up opportunities.
The Falcons opened the game with three goals in six-and-a-half minutes, including a David Mueller (senior, Prior Lake, Minn.) marker just 39 seconds into the contest. After a Benedictine score, CUW added three more goals in a row, the last coming by sophomore Colin Raley (Inverness, Ill.) on a man-up chance, to extend its lead to 6-1 with 13:52 to play before halftime. The Eagles found the back of the net 30 seconds later before junior Shawn Teixeira (Calgary, Alberta) added another Falcons man-up tally to push the advantage back to 7-2.
Eric Orndorf helped Benedictine (8-2, 3-0 MLC) during its six-goal rally with three-straight goals during a 16 minutes and 17 second stretch that spanned the third and fourth quarters. Five other Eagles also scored, while Steven Sladek led the visitor's defensive efforts with three caused turnovers. Voyda made 12 saves between the pipes in a complete game effort.
Mueller, Raley and junior Marino Best (Naniamo, British Columbia) all scored twice for CUW, while Brueske (senior, Hopkins, Minn.) led all players with three assists. Junior Danny Bundra (Lake Zurich, Ill.) dominated the faceoff circle with 15-of-18 faceoff wins and seven ground balls. Junior Mark Wilson also picked up five ground balls, and Brueske and junior Zachary Doll (Kirkwood, Mo.) each had four ground balls.
The loss snapped a four-game winning streak for CUW (5-4, 1-1 MLC), who travels to Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday for a 2 pm non-conference game.
