PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Marist men's lacrosse team kept mounting comeback after comeback Tuesday night, but were unable to overcome an early 5-0 deficit, falling 10-9 at Rutgers.
Jack Doherty (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) scored his fourth goal of the night with 36 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter to pull the Red Foxes (2-2) to within one, the fourth time Marist had cut Rutgers' (4-3) lead to a single goal, but they could not get a shot off the rest of the way as the Scarlet Knights held on for the win.
The four goals by Doherty led the Red Foxes offense. Colin Joka (Conshohocken, Pa.) had a goal and an assist. Bobby Carpenter (Saratoga, N.Y.), Matt Dugan (Cortland, N.Y.), Evan Guarini (Long Valley, N.J.) and Connor Rice (Penfield, N.Y.) all had a goal apiece. Rice's score extended his point-scoring streak to 34 games, the ninth-longest streak in the country. Craig Goodermote (Holtsville, N.Y.) made 10 saves in goal for Marist.
Rutgers scored the first five goals of the game, including four in the first 3:42 as the Red Foxes could not even gain possession with the Scarlet Knights winning the first five face-offs.
Doherty started a furious comeback however, with his first goal with 1:34 remaining in the first quarter. It started a streak of four Marist goals in a 1:39 span bridging over into the second period. Doherty followed it up with his second score with 50 seconds remaining. Carpenter then found the back of the net with just four seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
Off the faceoff to start the second stanza, Dugan scooped up the ground ball and raced down the field to score just five seconds into the quarter to bring the deficit to one at 5-4.
After two scores by the Scarlet Knights, Doherty completed his third hat trick of the season with 1:38 remaining in the half to put the score at 7-5.
Guarini opened the second half with a man-up goal, but Rutgers again responded with back-to-back goals.
Joka and Rice scored in the final 90 seconds of the third quarter to again pull the Red Foxes to within one at 9-8.
The Rutgers' defense clamped down, holding Marist scoreless for the next 15 minutes until Doherty's goal in the final minute.
The Red Foxes play their first game of the season in Poughkeepsie this Saturday with a 1 p.m. contest against Jacksonville in what is also the team's first conference game.
Notes - Ethan Fox (Yorktown Heights, N.Y.) wore #34 in honor of former Red Fox Eddie Coombs, who died last summer in an automobile accident. Each game, a Marist player will wear the jersey based on who the coaches think earned it in practice and the previous game.
