Danes topple Minutemen
Without leading scorer, Ualbany gets spark from Ryan vs. No. 13 Umass
Short-handed University at Albany men’s lacrosse team knocks off 13thranked Massachusetts.
Missing 105-goal career scorer Tehoka Nanticoke and two other players because of suspension, the University at Albany men’s lacrosse team played well enough to lead most of the game against 13thranked Massachusetts on Tuesday afternoon at John Fallon Field.
When the Minutemen came back to tie late, the Great Danes turned to two-goal scorer Chris Ryan to put away their longtime rivals.
Ryan’s score with 1:59 to play, the senior’s first of the season and third of his career, gave No. 19 Ualbany a 13-12 victory in a nonleague game.
“We had a lead basically from the second quarter on, so them coming back and tying it, I thought we stayed composed and we stayed confident,” head coach Scott Marr said. “We had some jitters in there. We made some turnovers. But like I said, throughout the whole game I thought we played really confident and believed in each other. Chris Ryan makes an unbelievable play to keep the ball for us and then score. Chris is unheralded. Nobody really talks about him too much, but the kid hustles every day in practice and played a great game. I’m really happy for him he was able to get the game winner.”
Ualbany (4-1) prevailed a day
after finding out the America East Conference was suspending Nanticoke, starting junior defenseman Elijah Gash and senior midfielder Steve Ramirez for one game each for their roles in a fight with Binghamton’s players in the bench area in the fourth quarter of Saturday’s victory.
Without Nanticoke, Ualbany had eight players score goals, including hat tricks from senior Jakob Patterson and sophomore Graydon Hogg. Patterson added five assists.
The Ualbany defense also rose to the occasion without Gash with sophomore defenseman Wil Pepe of Shaker High assuming a starting role. Graduate goalkeeper Liam Donnelly made 16 saves, including 10 in the third quarter.
“When you have three great players like Elijah, Tehoka and Steven down, it’s obviously next man up,” Patterson said. “We took it upon ourselves to play well and the coaching staff did a great job with offensive formations and defensive formations, which led us to the victory today.”
Donnelly, who transferred from Utah, got his introduction to the Umass-ualbany rivalry. The Minutemen lead the overall series 20-11 and defeated the Great Danes in 2019 and 2020.
“Massive win,” Donnelly said. “We really didn’t have a lot of time to prepare for this one, so it was a gutsy effort. We found out (Monday) night that those guys might be out. We had to adjust right away and a lot of guys stepped up, so we’re really happy with this one.”
The Great Danes jumped out to a 2-0 lead with Hogg and Patterson scoring eight seconds apart. They never trailed.
The teams were tied at 4-4 after the first quarter, but Ualbany’s defense held the Minutemen scoreless in the second quarter to hold a 6-4 advantage at halftime. Then Donnelly excelled in the third quarter to hold Umass at bay.
“Liam, I can’t say enough good about him,” Marr said. “Ten saves in the third quarter. His outlet (passes) are right on. He puts that ball right in our guys’ sticks. He really does spark a lot of transition for us, so we’re constantly putting pressure on the other team with how we clear the ball and how we get up the field quickly.”
After Umass’ Mike Tobin scored to make it 12-12, the first tie since 4-4, the Minutemen (2-1) had the chance to take the lead, but Gabriel Procyk hit a post with 2:48 to play.
Off a pass from Kyle Casey, Ryan scored the winning goal from the left side into the lower right corner past Umass goalie Matt Knote. Then Umass committed a turnover on a failed clear attempt with 44 seconds left and Ualbany ran out the clock.
“I don’t think you can put a value on (the win), to be honest with you,” Marr said. “We’ve been talking to the team all year long about practicing to be a starter, because you don’t know who’s going to be down, who’s going to be out. I think our young kids have embraced it.”