It was a Sunday full of nail-biters in Division I men’s lacrosse, with four games decided by one goal, one decided by two goals and another decided by three.
With Syracuse-Johns Hopkins not yet final, here’s how the rest of the day went down.
ANOTHER PENN WALK-OFF GOAL
Just a few weeks after downing Duke essentially at the horn, Penn did it again. On February 26, it was Jack Schultz. On Sunday, Dylan Gergar scored with 0.5 seconds left after Tyler Kuehl ran the full length of the field in transition, giving Penn an 8-7 win over Villanova.
Gergar and Handley each scored twice for No. 7 Penn (3-1), which captured the Farrell Cup against its Philadelphia rival.
Penn led 6-4 at halftime of a seesaw contest. Patrick Daly, Matt Campbell and J.P. Basile each scored in a 3-0 run for the Wildcats, giving them the lead with 6:54 left.
With the offense struggling to find the back of the net, Penn’s comeback didn’t begin until late. James Shipley tied it at 7 with 1:18 remaining, then Gergar’s goal came with mere milliseconds to go.
MASSIVE WIN FOR LOYOLA
The significance of Loyola’s 12-10 win over No. 11 Duke can’t be overstated. Scuffling at 1-4 entering play, the Greyhounds needed a win that could boost their at-large profile.
Kevin Lindley scored six times to make sure it would happen. Loyola led 10-2 at the half and held Duke to just 10 shots in the first 30 minutes, then withstood a furious second-half comeback from the Blue Devils.
Duke (7-3) scored the game’s final seven goals and was knocking on the door of a dramatic comeback. Down 12-8 with 2:29 left, Duke could have acted quickly to close the gap further. But the Blue Devils didn’t score again until there were 59 seconds left (Joe Robertson), and then Brennan O’Neill scored with 32 seconds to go for the final margin.
YALE LEADS WIRE TO WIRE
No. 10 Yale never trailed in a 16-13 win over No. 17 Denver, but the Pios never went down by more than four goals in the contest.
Ted Sullivan put Denver (3-4) down 14-12 with 4:14 left, but the Yale (3-1) defense buckled down. It held Denver off the board until there were just 27 seconds left, giving its offense the opportunity to tack on some insurance.
Matt Brandau had five goals and three assist, and Leo Johnson had a hat trick. Yale overcame an 11-for-31 showing on faceoffs, as Alec Stathakis went 20-for-30 for the Pios.