Senior attackman Ryan Bitzer was poised to get the Stony Brook men’s lacrosse team the lead heading into the locker room before halftime, scoring with .08 seconds left to go before the break to put his team up 7-6 against No. 13-ranked Princeton.
“Coach has told me a lot in practice when there is short time like 15 or 10 seconds left just to go for myself,” Bitzer said.“Try and get a foul or score and that’s what I did. I just kept working him on the low wing until I got my hands free and I was able to put it between his legs.”
Bitzer recorded four points on the night, but it was not enough to put Stony Brook over the top as they fell to Princeton 13-11 at Kenneth P. LaValle stadium Saturday night. The loss brings Stony Brook’s overall record to 5-5 on the season.
Princeton put a stop to the momentum that Stony Brook built up at the end of the first half by opening up the second half with a goal in less than 90 seconds.
The Tigers’ junior attackman Riley Thompson knotted the score at 7-7 , using his speed to zoom around freshman midfielder Harrison Matsuoka, dumping the ball into the back of the net directly in front of the crease at the 13:41 mark of the third quarter.
Neither team led by more than two goals. However, Princeton had the last laugh after senior attackman Gavin McBride and sophomore attackman Dawson McKenzie scored a goal in the final minutes of the fourth quarter to close the door on Stony Brook. McBride recorded his fourth consecutive game with five goals, a first in program history.
The Seawolves were not able to perform any of those explosive plays in the second half and went 0-6 in man-up situations.
“Quality of possessions,” Bitzer said. “We weren’t getting the looks that we were getting in the first half, and man-up…we have to do a way better job. I don’t think we scored on the man-up today. That falls on me and the other guys, we have to do a better job there pouring in some goals, we’d have got that win.”
Although Stony Brook failed to win the game, there were some positive performances from multiple players on the roster.
Freshman attackman Tom Haun tallied a hat trick on the night for the Seawolves, putting him at six multi-goal games this season. Freshman goalkeeper Michael Bollinger started his third straight game between the pipes, recording nine saves on the day for the Seawolves.
“It feels good,” Haun said on his scoring abilities. “We’re not translating it into wins so that tough, it’s good to get the points but we want to win as a team, that’s more important.”
Stony Brook will head into the heat of conference play beginning on the road as they take on Vermont at 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 15 at Virtue Field.
“It’s a big conference game,” Bitzer said. “They ended our season last year and we’re looking for a little bit of revenge.”
