Winkler's 100th Career Goals Wins it for UC in OT Against Misericordia
Utica 10, Misericordia 9 (OT) - Men's Lacrosse Final
Utica, NY (3/29/2013) – Senior Ben Winkler’s 100th career goal will go down as a memorable one, not only because it made him just one of three players in program-history to reach the century mark, but more importantly it helped the Utica College men’s lacrosse team defeat visiting Misericordia University, 10-9, in overtime on Friday night at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. The back in forth contest was eventually closed out by Winkler when he took a pass in front from teammate Joe Schoen, with 1:23 left in the first overtime, and scored his 100th career goal to help the Pioneers improve to 4-3 overall on the year.
Winkler now has 128 career points which ranks third all-time at UC. He has 100 goals and 28 assists, joining Matt Donaldson ’05 and Michael Bulger ’10 in the 100 goal club. Donaldson posted a school-record 165 goals between 2002-05, and Bulger netted 123 goals between 2007-10.
The contest featured nine different ties, with the Pioneers holding a lead on six different occasions in regulation, but the visiting Cougars had the answer every time UC scored. These answers included the game-tying goal with 2:03 left in regulation by leading scorer Nicholas Santillo to send the contest to overtime with the score knotted at 9-9.
Both teams would not budge in the second half after the score was tied at
4-4 at the end of the first 30 minutes. UC’s Trent Jacobs gave the Pioneers 5-4 lead 38 seconds into the third quarter, but the Cougars’ Jack Stang punched right back to tie the score at 5-5 just 14 seconds later.
Winkler gave the Pioneers a 6-5 advantage at the 10:58 ledger of the third quarter, off an assist from Andrew Jamieson, but this time the Cougars answered with two straight tallies (Matt Gonzalez, Joshua Schwartz) to take a 7-6 lead with 6:53 to go in the third.
The Pioneers were able to get two more third quarter goals from Zack Stevenson and Corey Thompson, in less than a minute, to take an 8-7 lead into the final quarter.
Santillo opened the fourth with a game-tying goal at the 13:18 ledger, but once again the Pioneers responded, as Thompson netted his second of the night to push the Pioneer lead back to one goal, 9-8, with 8:55 to go. Santillo eventually sent the contest to OT after a goal with just over two minutes remaining.
Both teams exchanged possessions in the overtime period, before Winkler netted the unforgettable goal to seal the victory, while snapping the Pioneers two game skid.
Both goalies played extremely well in net as UC’s Trey Adams stopped 15 shots, one better than his counterpart Patrick Johnson, who made 14 saves on the afternoon.
Six different players finished the game with at least two points including Winkler (two goals), Jamieson (one goal, one assist), Stevenson (two goals), Thompson (two goals, one assist), Schoen (two assists) and Jacobs (two goals).
Utica senior Justin Edelstein came away with one goal and Tom Byrne added five ground balls. Stevenson also went 13-of-15 on face-off opportunities for the Pioneers.
Misericordia (4-4) is now 0-2 all-time against the Pioneers, and Matt Gonzalez posted two tallies for the visitors. Johnson scooped up a game-high six ground balls for the Cougars.
UC returns to action on the road Wednesday when it travels to Empire 8 Conference rival Hartwick College for an E8 match up at 4 p.m.