Men’s Lacrosse Falls Short in America East Championship

Box Score FINAL SCORE: #1 UAlbany 14, #3 Vermont 11
ALBANY, N.Y. – Vermont (7-7, 4-2 AE) appeared in its fourth America East Championship Game in the last six seasons on Saturday afternoon from Bob Ford Field, but the Catamounts fell short to UAlbany (11-5, 6-0 AE) 14-11 as the Great Danes secured their third straight America East Championship victory and secured a ticket to the NCAA Tournament.

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Box Score

COACH'S QUOTE
"First off, congratulations to UAlbany; I thought they did an awesome job in the second half, making adjustments, coming back in a hard-fought game, and executing," said Head Coach Chris Feifs. "They're a really good team and really hard to beat here. I thought we came ready to go, and they were ready to enter the battle. So credit to them, and also very proud of my team for coming ready to go today and coming together at the end of the season, going on a run, and really figuring out who we were and who our identity was. And I think we fought very hard at the latter half of the season, especially."

HOW IT HAPPENED

The Catamounts opened scoring 4:35 into the game when Vermont sent the ball in rotation around the zone, seeing Tristan Whitaker find Cullen Decker who picked the far side of the net all in one motion on his shot, scoring his 21st goal of the season, earning UVM the opening 1-0 advantage.
Vermont doubled the lead with 7:05 on the clock in the first quarter forcing UAlbany to take a timeout and regroup. With time quickly expiring on the shot clock, Zack Toll was able to feed Max Frattaroli in the slot who wasted no time notching his 31st goal of the season as the Catamounts extended their lead to 2-0.
Ryan Doherty responded for the Great Danes with just 1:24 remaining in the first quarter as Vermont took a 2-1 lead into the second frame of action.
UAlbany tied the game at 2-2 less than a minute into the start of the second quarter, seeing Silas Richmond deliver his 35th goal of the season to bring the Great Danes back even.
A broken play in the Catamounts defensive zone resulted in the Great Danes securing their first lead of the game when Doherty was able to swiftly scoop a ground ball from point blank range away from the UVM goal, using an overhand shot to net his second tally of the game, lifting UAlbany in front 3-2 with 10:30 remaining before halftime.
The Catamounts pounced back 1:06 later when Whitaker broke free down the left side, using a left-handed overhand shot to pin the top right corner of the UAlbany goal, knotting the score at 3-3 while tallying his ninth goal of the season.
Vermont regained the lead with 7:04 on the clock before halftime, seeing Jack Combs go coast to coast avoiding UAlbany defenders as he ran, electing to fire a shot on goal, scoring his second tally of the season to put the Catamounts in front 4-3.
A successful challenge called by Head Coach Chris Fiefs with 5:42 remaining before halftime resulted in the Catamounts regaining possession of the ball with a fresh shot clock in the Great Dane zone. Vermont took advantage of the won challenge, seeing Decker find Ethan Pearson on the far side, ripping an underhand shot to the top right corner with 5:20 on the clock, scoring his 15th goal on the campaign to propel UVM in front 5-3.
Vermont forced UAlbany to take another timeout with 2:31 left in the second frame when Luke Reiter scored the Catamounts' fourth unanswered goal to gain a 6-3 advantage. Reiter used a textbook fake shot to avoid the primary UAlbany defender, creating enough space to pin the bottom left corner, scoring his 12th goal of the season as UVM took a three-goal lead.
The Great Danes were able to orchestrate back-to-back goals before halftime, but it was Vermont that brought a 6-5 lead into the halftime break.
Vermont opened the third quarter scoring back-to-back goals courtesy of Sean McCeney notching his 10th of the season and Whitaker firing in his second of the game as the Catamounts regained their three-goal lead, 8-5, with 12:25 on the clock in the third frame.
UAlbany was able to bounce back, coming to within one after dialing up two unanswered goals with 11:23 on the clock in the third quarter, but it was UVM's McCeney that answered for Vermont, scoring his second goal of the game with 5:30 remaining until the fourth quarter beating the Great Dane keeper high, extending the lead back to two, 9-7.
The Great Danes exploded on a 3-0 scoring run to end the third frame, seeing Richmond complete his hat trick with two highlight reel goals and Jackson Palumb find the back of the net for the second time in the game, entering the fourth quarter with a one goal lead over UVM, 10-9.
The Catamounts were able to collect two goals in the fourth quarter, one from Matthew Drimmie and another from Pearson, but the Great Danes orchestrated a 4-2 scoring run throughout the final frame of action, ultimately walking away with the 14-11 win during the America East Championship Game.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

McCeney and Whitaker each notched three points on two goals and one assist, seeing both players tie a season high and team high in the points department.
Pearson recorded his sixth multi-goal game of the season notching two goals on Saturday to go along with a tied team high four shots on goal.
Decker and Frattaroli each had two points on one goal and one assist. Decker added a tied team high four shots on goal and two ground balls while Frattaroli added two shots on goal and three ground balls.
Combs scored his seventh career goal on Saturday to go along with two ground balls.
Walter Zhao corralled a game high 11 ground balls and won 15-27 faceoffs.
Toll, McCeney, and Combs were honored on the All-Championship Team.
UVM outshot UAlbany on goal 24-18.
Vermont went 16-17 on clear attempts.