Bulldogs rally, beat Sconone, UMass

NEW HAVEN — It’s not like the Yale men’s lacrosse team wasn’t aware of Sean Sconone’s tendencies.

Most of the Bulldogs faced the 270-pound UMass goalie twice last season, including their NCAA tournament first-round win. They’d also seen film of his previous two games this season in which he saved a combined 33 shots against Ohio State and Harvard.

“Our coaches gave us the scout(ing report) and we weren’t following it,” Yale junior Matt Gaudet said. “We knew he was incredible high and we kept shooting high at him.”

Yale was outshooting UMass by a 2-to-1 margin on Saturday afternoon at Reese Stadium. Yet Sconone turned away nearly everything thrown his way. Midway through the third quarter, he’d made 14 saves as upset-minded UMass took a commanding fivegoal lead.

In time, Yale found its target, rolling off eight of the next nine goals to help send the game into overtime, where Gaudet beat Sconone with 53 seconds remaining to lift the No. 4 Bulldogs to a 12-11 victory.

Gaudet was planted just outside the crease. Brian Tevlin, from just inside the restraining line, sent in a long feed. Gaudet flicked a shot over Sconone’s shoulder to help Yale (2-1) avoid losing to an unranked opponent at home in overtime for the second time in three weeks.

It was a picture-perfect high-low scoring play. Gaudet, initially, wasn’t so sure.

“We had a set play. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out,” Gaudet said. “Things got a little fuzzy. I saw my friend looking at me from the top. I was thinking, ‘No, don’t throw this. I don’t know if this is a shot.’ He threw it. I caught it. The goalie came over slow and I was able to finish short side.”

Sconone, most outstanding player in the Colonial Athletic Association championships last spring, was the star of the day for two-and-a-half quarters. Yale was rifling shots at a frantic pace, but they all seemed to come from the same angle.

If the Bulldogs, trailing 8-3 midway through the third, were going to battle back, they needed to find a way to finish. Yale consistently got good looks and quality shots. Something had to give.

“That was an unbelievable performance by Sconone,” Yale coach Andy Shay said. “I give our guys credit for sticking with it. Brendan Rooney was what, 3-for-12? He was 0-for-6 at one point. That doesn’t happen to him very often. We talked about shooting early in the week. If we tell our guys where to shoot, they screw it up. Then they’re shooting where we want them to shoot and he’s still making saves. I give a ton of credit to that kid. He was incredible.”

Lucas Cotler began the Yale comeback by finishing a feed from Jack Tighe with 6:37 left in the third to cut the UMass lead to 8-4. Goals by Tevlin, Matt Brandau, Gaudet and Jackson Morrill brought the Bulldogs all the way back with 11:05 left in the game.

Yale eventually took an 11-9 lead before UMass got a pair of goals by Jeff Trainor in the final minute to send the game to overtime.

Two weeks earlier, Yale battled back from a late three-goal deficit against Villanova only to lose in overtime. T.D. Ierlan, dominant on the X most of the game, lost the opening draw of the extra session that afternoon, and lost it again Saturday.

But the Bulldogs got a key save from goalie Jack Starr (five saves) and survived a cross-checking penalty to Aiden Hynes to regain possession, setting up Gaudet’s winner.

“That’s what we like to do,” Shay said. “We pride ourselves on mental toughness.”