Waterbury, Conn. - Georgian Court University closed the regular season in epic fashion Saturday afternoon as the Lions clipped the Eagles of Post University in overtime, 11-10, to secure their fifth straight victory and a perfect 5-0 record vs. CACC foes. GCU now preps for its postseason debut in next week's inaugural Men's Lacrosse Championship Tournament.
The two teams alternated the first five goals of the contest before host-Post netted back-to-back tallies to take a 4-3 lead with 11:00 left before intermission. The Lions and Eagles again went back and forth with the next five successful scoring efforts as the two foes enter the break knotted at 6-all.
After GCU opened the second half with a go-ahead goal from
Brandon Razler just 54 seconds in, the Eagles soared to a 9-7 lead with 1:52 left in the period after pouring in three unanswered tallies.
Undaunted, Georgian Court calmly responded with scores from
Ryder Verdoni and
Connor Houghton to create the contest's eighth stalemate at 9-9 with 11:00 to go in regulation. The tie would be eclipsed with 4:28 left when
Dominick Parente reclaimed the lead for the home team at 10-9. Just 2:02 later, Houghton would create tie number nine in fine fashion with his second score of the day.
With neither team able to tickle the twine during the rest of regulation, the contest entered the always-thrilling, golden-goal extra session. The clincher finally came at the 1:23 mark when CACC scoring leader,
Michael Saladino, put away a
Jeffrey Galatola feed to give the senior his fourth goal of the game, and the Lions' their second OT win of the year (3/27 vs. St. Thomas Aquinas).
Both teams peppered the net with 39 shots, while Post owned a 25-23 advantage with regards to official shots-on-goal.
Austin Geissel claimed the well-earned victory between the pipes for Georgian Court with 15 saves in 62:37. Post's
Manuele D'Alessio collected 12 saves in the complete-game effort.
Razler and Verdoni also posted multi-goal performances with two apiece.
Tanner Lee dished three helpers in the triumph.
GCU, the #1 seed in next week's conference tournament, now awaits its next opponent. The Lions will host the event and will take on the to-be-determined #4 seed at 12:00 pm. this Friday, April 27.
