Marist men’s lacrosse lost in the MAAC semifinals to Siena, dramatically falling 15-14 after a back-and-forth game.
Marist (8-8, 5-3 MAAC) entered the semi-final after defeating the No. 5 Manhattan Jaspers 16-7 in the quarterfinal and losing 24-9 to Siena (10-4, 7-1 MAAC) just eight days ago to close out the regular season.
“The guys came out and they practiced at an insanely high level all week,” said head coach Dave Scarcello. “They wanted revenge.”
Senior attacker Ryan McCarthy found the winner with 1:43 on the clock in the fourth quarter, igniting the Siena bench and traveling fans. Senior attacker Conor Hufnagel led the Saints with seven points, scoring four and assisting three.
Graduate student goalie Andrew Arcuri made 11 saves on the night, including the most important one of the game as time expired. Marist called a timeout with the ball and seven seconds on the clock.
Graduate student midfielder Josh Balcarcel found space to find senior attacker Jake Deacy at the net. Deacy was denied, and Siena held on to advance to Saturday’s championship.
“[Arcuri] stood on his head the whole game,” said Scarcello. “It came down to them making a stop or us scoring a goal and they came away with it.”
Sophomore attacker Collin Patrick scored four goals for Marist, with sophomore midfielder Sean Mullan adding his own hat trick and pair of assists.
“Those are young guys stepping up in big moments… they really rely on their upperclassmen a lot to show them the standard and the culture around the team,” said Scarcello.
Senior attacker Pratt Reynolds scored twice, while junior attacker Travis Fry had three goals and an assist. McCarthy put a pair in and assisted on three.
Marist jumped out to a 5-3 lead after one with a pair from Mullan and Patrick. Fry got two for Siena, who got on its heels after Marist’s offensive burst.
Fry’s scored on Siena’s lone extra-man opportunity of the game, converting the penalty against senior defender Sully MacMurphy.
Senior faceoff specialist Dylan Bedell was crucial for Marist, winning seven straight in the first and going 5-5 after a Marist goal early. He finished 16-28 on the day, finishing an amazing season.
Siena battled back in the second frame, scoring six to Marist’s two, including four straight to go into the break. Radomski scored all three of his goals in the second quarter alone.
“We just had to pack it back in and trust that we were going to make saves and get stops,” said Scarcello after Marist’s defense conceded just six goals in the second half.
The second half was similar to the first in its back-and-forth nature, heading into the final quarter knotted at 13-13.
Siena scored a big goal in the third that many thought could have been disallowed with a Marist challenge, although the Marist staff valued their timeouts, not wanting to risk losing one with a failed challenge.
“Just trying to make sure we value our timeouts in a tie game,” said Scarcello on the decision not to challenge the goal. “We needed to be able to hold on to the timeouts if it came to it.”
Balcarcel opened the second half scoring for Marist and was joined by Patrick and Mullan, along with junior attacker Drew Anderson, senior midfielder Sam Ferrel and Deacy.
The fourth quarter was a different story from its previous frames, with just three goals being scored, as the free-flowing offense slowed down.
Anderson opened it up nearly four minutes in off an assist from Deacy, firing up the Red Foxes’ sideline and traveling support.
McCarthy, who scored both of Siena’s fourth quarter goals, found the net just over two minutes later.
The game remained tied at 14 for eight minutes. Hufnagel then found McCarthy, who gave his team the lead as the clock ticked.
Siena won the faceoff and called a timeout, drawing out freshman goalkeeper Adam Wacholder and forcing the Marist defense to make a stop.
Radomski fired a shot with just over 15 seconds to play but missed, giving the Red Foxes the ball with a chance to tie. They advanced the ball and got a chance to draw up a play, but in the end, Arcuri’s 11th save sealed the win for the Saints.
Wacholder finished off an All-MAAC rookie team season with eight saves on 23 shots, although he did not make a save for the first 20 minutes.
Siena advances to the championship to take on the hosts, top-seeded Sacred Heart. Sacred Heart beat Siena earlier this year, the tiebreaking result determining the No. 1 seed, and will get a chance to double down on that win. Game time is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 3rd.
Edited by Marley Pope
Graphic by Quinn DiFiore; Photo by John Jankowski
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