The men’s lacrosse team won its fourth straight game on Friday night, defeating Bucknell University in a wire-to-wire 14-5 victory.
Catapulted by a rocket-fire start in the home Alumni Day game, the Maroon and White (3-2 Patriot League, 7-4 overall) put together an offensive avalanche in the opening frame, outscoring the Bison (2-3 Patriot League, 4-5 overall) 7-0.
“We knew coming out that we had to get out to a good start,” freshman attacker Joshua Heaney said. “They’re good to start possession, so we just wanted to make sure we were moving the ball, assisted goals and long possessions and it worked.”
Heaney scored five goals in Friday’s contest, including a hat trick in the first quarter alone. The third of Heaney’s goals came from navigating traffic, circling around the backside of the goal and slinging one into the back of the net to make it a 7-0 affair.
“I had a couple dodges, but honestly, most of them were assisted,” Heaney said. “It was just a product of good offense, good game plan from our coaches and then just being ready, our scout team, our defense, getting us ready, giving us good looks.”
While the Leopard offense slowed down into the second quarter, the defense remained formidable, limiting the Bison to just nine first-half shot attempts compared to the Leopard 26. The Maroon and White went into halftime up 9-0.
“It was awesome,” junior goalie Joe Doherty said. “The defense played really connected and physical and they’re playing really hard, that’s what it all comes down to.”
The Leopards continued their momentum coming out of the half, as freshman midfielder Joseph Duggan ripped a shot off an assist from senior attacker Riley Sullivan, before Sullivan added a goal of his own en route to a hat trick on the contest.
“To be honest, I didn’t really do much with the ball on my stick,” Sullivan said. “I’m always hanging around in the middle, and I’ll bury the shots if they put it on my stick.”
“If I go into the middle like that, you got to expect to get hit,” he continued. “To be honest, it feels good to get hit like that. It makes me feel alive.”
Despite the 11-0 lead, the Bison put together a scoring run to narrow the gap, putting together four consecutive goals between the third and fourth quarters.
“We can never get ourselves out of it mentally because that’s a really good offense,” Doherty said. “They could be in it at any moment, and I think that just comes with experience.”
Although Bucknell tallied a fifth goal, the Leopards remain comfortably in control, decisively taking the 9-point lead for another Patriot League victory.
The Maroon and White return to action on Friday night against Navy (2-2 Patriot League, 6-4 overall).
