April 26, 2008

by Ken McMillan, Special to Lacrosse Magazine Online

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Bucknell men's lacrosse coach Frank Fedorjaka doesn't like the idea of pulling his goalie during a game, but his quick hook in Friday's playoff game with Army may have meant the difference between the Bison playing for an NCAA tournament berth and packing up their equipment for the season.

Bucknell's Patriot League semifinal against host Army wasn't even four minutes old, and Bison starter Nick Sciubba had already given up two goals on two shot attempts. Fedorjaka turned to Matt Antonelli in relief, and the junior earned the biggest save of the season.

Antonelli steadied the Bison defense and kept Army off the board for nearly 13 minutes. He made 11 stops in all and guided Bucknell to an 8-7 upset victory over top-seeded and 11th-ranked Army before 1,797 fans at Michie Stadium.

No. 19 Bucknell (10-4) moves on to Sunday's 2 p.m. championship final against Colgate, a 12-9 upset winner over second-seeded Navy in the second semifinal. Bucknell has a score to settle after Colgate's 11-9 win on April 19 knocked the Bison from sharing the Patriot League regular-season title and hosting the tournament.

Fedorjaka did not indicate which goalie he would start in the final, a job that has been Sciubba's all season long. That's probably fine with Antonelli, who has made only two starts with the Bison.

"I think coming off of the bench is never an easy position to be in," said Antonelli, who earned his first win of the season and only the second of his career. "I was just glad to get a shot to go on the field. I know when Coach calls my number, he wants me to go on the field and fire the guys up, try to give us a spark. I am glad I was able to do that."

Actually, this is not the first time Antonelli has thrived in relief. He stepped in for Sciubba in a March 19 game at Navy and made 10 stops in a 4-3 overtime setback.

Army's Roy Ragusa scored just 20 seconds into the match when he bounced a 10-yard shot past Sciubba. Ryan Klipstein tied it 91 seconds later, but Army pulled ahead when Ron McCallion scored on a play on which he was the trailer to all-league player Justin Bokmeyer.

Fedorjaka had seen enough.

"What we don't want to do in our program is flip-flop goalies all the time," Fedorjaka said. "Nick Sciubba has been our starter. Some days he's great, and other days he's human. We have the flexibility to make the change with a good goalie, but we don't like to do it often. I try to do it when it won't affect Nick's confidence in the next situation. In this game, it was do-or-die and could be the last game of the season.

"We wanted to put Antonelli in and see if he could make a spark, and maybe that will change the way they are shooting a bit," Fedorjaka added. "It was working the way I hoped. They hit him the first time, and he made some real nice saves. It was a long time before he got scored upon."

Army coach Joe Alberici said his team's game plan changed slightly with the goalie change, since he believes Antonelli clears the ball better than Sciubba.

"We felt like good shots were going to go for us," Alberici said. "He was very poised in there, and took away shots that should have been taken away."

The back-and-forth affair saw only one two-goal lead, as Army moved ahead 5-3 on second-quarter tallies from McCallion, Brooks Korvin and Alex Rhoads.

Fedorjaka said the game turned in the next five minutes, before the teams exited for halftime. Army failed to extend its lead due to two turnovers, one wide shot and a Antontelli stop on Jeremy Boltus. Bucknell drew to within a goal when Austin Winter picked the tiniest hole in the upper left corner of the cage at 13:42. Winter set up the equalizer at 14:33 from Joe Mele, who caught-and-fired in the same motion with two defenders fronting him.

"We had our backs against the wall," Fedorjaka said. "We needed to hold them, [and] we needed to hold it on offense and score. All of those things happened, and that kept us in the game. We won another key faceoff and managed to tie it up 5-5. That was the defining moment of the game for us."

Bucknell pulled ahead 2:48 into the third quarter when Tim Brandau got off a shot before getting leveled. Army's Jason Peyer tied it at 6:09 when his tough-angle shot from the right side bounced past Antonelli and inside the far post.

Army pulled ahead 7-6 on a quick transition play. Adam Hansinger caused a turnover by Nick Marks, and Rhoads scooped up the groundball. Peyer converted a short pass from Mike Hanna for the tally at 10:04.

Bucknell's Perry Menzies would score the final two goals. The equalizer came with 41 seconds left in the third quarter, when he was left open on the right side on a 10-yard shot. Then, with 9:55 to play, Winter was behind the cage when he found Menzies open on the left side - Mele ran some interference out front on a shot that saw Army goalie Adam Fullerton not even make a move.

Given the early nature of the game, it was hard to believe that would conclude the scoring, but it did. Army's Korvin was stopped by Antonelli from 12 yards out in the slot with 3:25 to play and again, off a passing play with Bokmeyer, with 45 seconds left. Bokmeyer fired wide right with 5.5 seconds left, and Peyer's desperation centering pass in the final seconds found only a gaggle of sticks.

Winter finished with six points (1g, 5a). Mele had three goals.

"Austin [Winter] is a guy that we ask to do a lot for us," Fedorjaka said. "When we are clearing it, he needs to get open. When we are going to the goal, he needs to create a breakdown in the defensive end, he needs to take his man and draw a double and feed it. Not too many players can draw a double and find the open man. Austin has the ability to do that. So we allow him to do whatever he wants out there on the field. He doesn't abuse that privilege, and he makes good decisions."

For Army, Peyer had four points (2g, 2a), Boltus set up a pair and leading scorer Bokmeyer was held to one assist. Fullerton made 10 saves.

Army (9-5) has dropped two in a row and faces the possibility of not gaining an at-large berth into the NCAA tournament, which would be a great disappointment after Alberici turned around the misfortunes of last season and guided the Black Knights back into the national rankings. Army has one more opportunity to improve its standing with a game at Penn next Saturday.

"Obviously, we need to win Saturday against Penn if we have any chance to make the tournament," Fullerton said. "With a win, I am not sure how everything works out..Without that win there is no shot we will make it, so we have to prepare this week like every other week and come out ready to play."