Badgers Fall in NAC Qtrs 12-7
BANGOR, Maine - The #6 seeded Johnson State College men's lacrosse team saw their season end with a 12-7 North Atlantic Conference (NAC) Quarterfinal defeat at #3 seeded Husson University on Saturday. The Badgers end their season with a 4-8 overall record while Husson will move on to the semifinal round against #2 Castleton State on Wednesday.
The game was tight throughout the first half with the host Eagles striking first at the 10:23 mark of the first period when Ben Landry scored an unassisted goal. JSC's Justin Connolly (Jeffersonville, Vt./Lamoille) would answer though three minutes later with an unassisted goal of his own to tie the game at 1-1.
Husson's Derrick Schlimm would give Husson the lead back at 5:10 of the first but consecutive Alex Petti (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) would get the Badgers their first and only lead of the day with 9:45 to play in the second period.
Two more Landry goals would give Husson a 4-3 lead entering the halftime break with HU holding a 27-12 shot advantage over the first 30 minutes.
Nick Brown would give the Eagles a two-goal lead with the first goal of the second half but Johnson's Billy Noyes (Boston, Mass./Northeast Regional) answered with a man-up goal with 11:29 left to play in the third making the score 5-4.
Landry and the Badgers' Erik Tillberg (Randolph, Vt./Randolph) exchanged goals to finish the period to set the stage for an exciting last 15 minutes with Husson leading 6-5.
Husson latched on to an important three goal advantage with goals from Landry and Anthony Diaz over the first two and half minutes of the fourth. Tillberg's second goal of the day would bring the Badgers back to within two with 5:48 remaining in the game.
That goal was quickly made up with Mitch Heaps scored just 13 seconds later to give the Eagles the three-goal margin back. The game was all but put on ice with 1:51 to play when Brown scored his second goal of the day to make it 10-6 Husson.
Goals by Billy Noyes, Landry's fifth of the day, and another by Heaps would finish the day's scoring and see Husson move on and the Badgers season come to an end.
Johnson goalkeeper Branden Sawyer (East Greenwich, R.I./East Greenwich) was busy and strong all day making 24 stops while his counterpart Tyler Quinn made 11 saves to earn the win.
The game was nearly even with Johnson owning a 13-11 advantage in face-off wins but Husson edged the Badgers in the groundball battle 57-51. The biggest difference came in the Eagles ability to generate 49 shots to Johnson's 27.