March 15, 2008
Box Score
LEWISBURG, Pa. - A comeback ran out of time on Saturday afternoon, as the Lafayette men's lacrosse team dropped a 9-7 decision at No. 16 Bucknell. Matt Mersky and Steve Serling each scored two goals apiece for the Leopards.
Bucknell (4-1) established themselves immediately, outscoring Lafayette 4-0 in the opening stanza. Neither team was able to find the back of the net in the second quarter and the Bison took a 4-0 advantage into intermission.
Two more goals to open the second half gave Bucknell a 6-0 lead before Lafayette (2-3) began to mount its comeback.
A goal from junior Steve Nastro started the Leopard scoring at the 9:03 mark of the third quarter. Another even strength goal, this time from Steve Serling off an assist from senior Andrew Horton, trimmed the Bison lead to four at 6-2 with 5:35 remaining in the third quarter.
Just fifteen seconds later, sophomore Matt Mersky notched the first of his two consecutive goals. An unassisted man-advantage goal at 5:20, followed by an even strength tally off a Tom Perini assist at the 3:34 mark cut the Lafayette deficit to just 6-4.
Back-to-back from Bucknell's Joe Mele stretched the Bucknell lead back to four to end the third quarter.
Serling notched his second goal of the day with 14:04 left in the game off the first of two straight Mersky assists. Just over a minute later, junior John Galassi used a Mersky assist to again cut the Bison lead to just two at 8-6 with 13:02 remaining.
Mele answered with his third goal of the day with 11:26 left. Lafayette managed eight shots in the final quarter, but only Horton's unassisted shot with 15 seconds left found the back of the net.
Junior goalkeeper Jeff Canfield grabbed a season-high 14 saves on the afternoon. Each team managed won 10 face-offs each, with Cesar Munoz (7-for-13) pacing the Leopards.
Lafayette scored on its only extra-man opportunity of the afternoon, while Bucknell was 0-for-3 on the day. The Bison held a 39-27 advantage in ground balls.
Lafayette will get back to action on Tuesday when the travel to Stony Brook. Face-off is set for 3 p.m.
