Schenectady, NY – Union College's Kerry Lyne scored twice in the final three minutes as the Dutchmen slipped past Montclair State, 12-11 at Frank Bailey Field on Wednesday afternoon.
Lyne finished with three goals while Josh Willis and John Edmonds scoring twice each as Union improved to 8-5 on the season.
DAN BELLEZZA scored four times for Montclair State, which had its nine-game winning streak snapped in the regular-season finale. The Red Hawks, now 9-7, turn their attention to the Skyline Conference Tournament. MSU, the eight-time defending champion and top seed, has a bye in in Saturday's first round and will host fourth-seeded Farmingdale State or fifth-seeded Kean at Sprague Field on Wednesday, May 3 at 7:00 pm.
Montclair found itself down three goals early and trailed 5-1 late in the opening period when
MATT HAEMMERLE scored on a man-advantage with 22 second left. It would be the start of a three-goal run that included a
BRADY WULSTER goal with1:53 left in the second that got the Red Hawks within 5-4.
Union scored with 14 seconds left in the first half and 14 seconds into the third quarter for a 7-4 advantage however the Red Hawks countered with three in a row to tie the game at 7-7.
ANDREW MONAHAN, Bellezza and Haemmerle each scored, the last coming with 10:25 left in the third.
The Dutchmen went back on top 9-7 but a goal by
JON RICE pulled Montclair State within 9-8 after three quarters.
Bellezza scored twice early in the fourth to give MSU a 10-9 lead however Willis knotted the game at 10-10 on an unassisted goal with 13:15 remaining.
JAMES CLARKE gave Montclair the lead with 4:59 to play before Lyne collected the last two goals.
LUCAS JONES had 10 saves for Montclair while
BLASE MANTINEO went 18-of-26 on faceoffs with six ground balls.
RICKY GERENA had three caused turnovers while
RYAN YOUNG registered two along with a team-best eight ground balls.