Courtesy of Springfield College
SPRINGFIELD, MA - Despite a four-goal performance from Tyler Montgomery, the 18th-ranked Springfield College men's lacrosse team fell to the visiting Amherst College Lord Jeffs, 11-10, in overtime on Wednesday evening.
With the loss, the Pride drop to 2-3 while Amherst improves to 2-0. For the second-straight year, Amherst slipped past the Pride in the waning moments. In last season's matchup, Amherst netted the game winner with just 13 seconds left in regulation.
After Kyle Gable's goal was called back for a crease violation with 1:34 remaining in the overtime session, the Lord Jeffs quickly moved the ball up the field. Will Ferrer (Greenwich, CT) connected with Thomas McDonnell (Manhasset, NY), who found the back of the cage with just 1:04 remaining to play to give the visitors the victory.
Trailing 10-9 with time winding down, Montgomery put the Pride on his back as he ripped a shot from 10 yards out on the run into the back of the cage to knot the game at 10-10.
Springfield raced out to an early 4-1 lead after the first quarter of play as Jake Beebe tallied a pair of goals to go along with an assist while Gable added a goal and an assist to pace the Pride. The Springfield man-down unit held the Lord Jeffs off the board, as they wiped out their four man-up chances.
The second period was a different story as Amherst outscored the home squad 5-2 to head into halftime tied at six all. The Pride went up 5-2 after on a man-down goal after Montgomery dove across the crease to find the back of the cage with just over 11 minutes remaining to play. Amherst responded with four unanswered goals, two coming from T.J. Jackson (Haverford, PA), to take a one goal lead. However, Montgomery's impressive individual effort with 44 ticks left in the first half tied the game at six.
The scoring slowed down in the third quarter as the teams combined for just three goals. Beebe's acrobatic goal 4:57 into the stanza put Springfield back on top, only to have Brett Miller (Wantagh, NY) tally a man-up goal just under three minutes later. Greg Welch put Springfield up 8-7 heading into the final quarter after he fired a shot from 10 yards out falling away from the cage with 1:52 remaining.
Amherst went ahead once again after Jackson converted on a man-down situation, receiving the ball in transition and making several moves before scoring with 5:16 left to go in regulation.
Montgomery finished with four goals while Beebe added three and an assist. Chris Jez and Jason Farrell each scooped up seven ground balls. Tom Albano made a game-high 14 saves in goal for Springfield. For the game, Springfield held Amherst to just 2-of-10 on man-up opportunities.
McDonnell led the way with four goals and two assists while Jackson added four goals of his own. Kellman went 16-of-23 from the "X" to go along with a game-high nine ground balls. Matt Pietroforte (Brooklyn, NY) made 12 saves in goal on the night.
Amherst will travel to Florida for a trio of games, starting Sunday against Salve Regina University at 1 p.m.
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