Sell-Out NCAA Men's Lacrosse's Quater-Finals, Witnessed Notre-Dame & Maryland, Advancing to The Final Four @ Baltimore Next Week !

SMI SPORTS / May 17, 2014

 

NEW YORK (SMI-SPORTS-COLLEGE,05.17.14)-Hofstra University hosted one of the East Regional NCAA Div I Men's Lacrosse Quater-Finals , where Notre Dame & Maryland claimed victories over Bryant and Albany to advance to the final four in Baltimore next week, during a Sell-Out crowd of 13,519 @ Shuart Stadium Hofstra University.

 

n the first game of the quarter-finals doubleheader , Maryland defeated Bryant  16-8 where the Terrapins went into the offensive attack since the start  and never looked back to claim victory over the Bulldogs.The Terrapins were led by the outstanding performance of Mike Chanenchuck who scored 5 goals & register 4 assists to become the first Terf to register 9 points since 1979.Also Connor Cannizaro, Jay Carlson & Joe LoCascio scored a 3 goals a piece, while Henry West & Matt Rambo added one & goalie Amato made 6 saves for his 13th victory of the season sending Maryland into their 22nd NCAA Championship semi-final @ Baltimore.Maryland wasted not time & jumped in front by taking an early lead of 4-0 in the first 5 minutes of the first quarter before Bryant even got possession of the ball.Bryant finally got its first possession of the day when Bulldog goalie Gunnar Waldt made a save on a shot by junior face off specialist Charlie Raffa as the clock neared the 10 minute mark.

 

The Bulldogs capitalized on the chance with an unassisted goal by Tucker James at the 9:24 mark to end the Terps’ run.But that just set off another mini-run that would find the Terrapins running off three straight goals, all of which featured Chanenchuk, to open a 7-1 lead.Maryland outshot Bryant, 38-29 and picked up 36 ground balls to the Bulldogs 23. The Terrapins won 17 of 27 face-offs behind junior Charlie Raffa, who captured 14 of 20 face-offs.The Bulldogs were led by Colin Dunster who scored four goals & Shane Morrell contributed two goals, while goalie Gunnar Waldt, who ranks fifth in the nation in goals against average, made eight saves in the loss.With the win, Maryland improved to 13-3 overall in the season and will face Notre-Dame in the NCAA Final Four @ Baltimore Maryland next week.

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In the second game,the Fighting Irish (11-5) overcame Albany 14-13 in overtime to advance to the final four taking place in Baltimore Maryland. Albany came back from an early four-goal deficit to lead against Notre Dame, but a Matt Kavanagh overtime score finishes the Great Danes season as the team fell 14-13 on Saturday in the NCAA Quarterfinals.Notre Dame trailed 12-7 with just over eight minutes remaining in the contest before ending regulation on a 6-1 run. The surge began on a Nick Ossello goal, which snapped a 6-0 Albany run, and Westy Hopkins scored less than a minute later to make it a three-goal affair. Tallies from Conor Doyle and Sergio Perkovic 36 seconds apart cut the Albany lead to one (12-11) with 6:19 left to play.The Great Danes (12-6) went back up by two on a Ryan Feuerstein goal with 5:44 remaining, but goals from Hopkins and Perkovic knotted the game by the three-minute mark of the final period. The Notre Dame defense withstood a final Albany possession and goalie Conor Kelly saved a Ty Thompson shot with five seconds left and the game went to overtime.In the overtime, Notre Dame won the face-off and got the ball into the stick of Kavanagh, who fired a rising rocket past Riordan for the game-winner to send the Irish to the NCAA Championship semifinals for the fourth time in school history.

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Kavanagh had a hat trick for the Irish, while fellow attackman Conor Doyle had two goals and three assists. Lyle Thompson paced Albany with three goals and three assists. Notre Dame's Liam O'Connor went 21-of-31 in face-off attempts.Notre Dame held a 47-32 advantage in shots. Kelly finished with six saves for the Irish, while Blaze Riorden had 14 for Albany.With the win, Notre Dame will face Maryland in the NCAA semifinals next Saturday at M&T Bank Stadium Baltimore, Md....