Men's Lacrosse Wins OT Thriller Against AIC, 13-12
Purple Knights score two goals in the final 35 seconds to send game into OT.
BRIDGEPORT, Conn. – Sparked by two goals in the final 35 seconds to force overtime, the University of Bridgeport's men's lacrosse team earned a 13-12 win over AIC on Wednesday night. The dramatic victory improves the Purple Knights' record to 2-3 this season.
James Goodrich contributed the heroics for UB as he tallied the game-winning tally just 55 seconds into extra time.
It was a great individual effort from Goodrich, who sprinted around the net, bounced off a second defender in front of the goal and hammered it past AIC goalkeeper Nicholas Kendall while falling to the ground.
Goodrich's clutch tally came after Ashton Lankowski scored with just 10 seconds left in regulation. James Napoli set that goal up with a perfect find to Lankowski in front of the net.
Bridgeport was down even further as Matthew Levantini also notched a goal in the final minute of regulation to cut the AIC lead to just 10-9 with 35 ticks on the clock.
UB's final-minute deficit was after AIC turned a 10-7 deficit of its own into a 12-10 lead at the 2:38 mark of the fourth quarter.
Individually, it was a balanced affair for the home squad. The Purple Knights had seven different players combine for their 13 tallies.
Levantini and Lankowski each led UB with hat tricks while Goodrich and Luciano Canino both found the back of the net twice.
Stephen Trama, James Napoli and Dewey Schoenfelder also all scored for the Purple Knights while Hunter Lizza dished out a pair of assists.
Defensively, Bridgeport piled up a season-high 19 caused turnovers. The Purple and White also racked up a season-best 41 ground balls.
Ryan Thomas led the way with a season-best six CTs which is the second highest mark of his career. He has only eclipsed 6 caused turnovers in a game once.
Sal D'Amico, meanwhile, came up with several clutch face-off wins down the stretch while also leading Bridgeport with seven ground balls. D'Amico ended up going 16-of-26 from the face-off spot.
UP NEXT
The Purple Knights will begin CACC play on Saturday with a home matchup against Georgian Court (6 p.m.).