Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's lacrosse team's inaugural season came to a heartwrenching end on Wednesday night as they fell in overtime in the AMCC Championship Tournament Semifinal, 7-6, to Hilbert.
The Panthers got their first-ever postseason game off to a fantastic start, outscoring the Hawks 3-0 in the first quarter. After a scoreless opening 6 minutes, Billy Tigar received a pass on the left wing, sprinted past his defender and whipped a shot to the far post to put the Panthers up 1-0. Three minutes later, Julian Florez weaved through all three levels of Hilbert defenders for a successful clear and then beat the goalie high to double the advantage. Ben Byers pushed the lead to 3 with 3:24 left in the period, slipping past his defender and firing a low shot into the goal.
The Panther success continued as the game moved into the 2nd period, scoring two more times in the first 3:19 of the quarter. With 12:14 on the clock, Byers picked up a loose ball in the offensive end, and released a shot to the lower half for his 2nd goal of the game to extend the lead to 4. 15 seconds later, he finished his hat-trick. Neither team gathered immediate control of the faceoff, and the Panthes worked the ground ball towards the offensive end. With the defense pushed up to the line, Byers was able to grab the ground ball and, within seconds, was alone against the goalie. He calmly slotted a shot into the goal to give Pitt-Bradford a 5-0 lead and forced a Hilbert timeout.
The Hawks responded after the timeout, making adjustments to get back in the game. They took control of the game and scored 4 times in a 3-minute span to quickly trim the Panther led down to 1. The Panthers nearly got to the break with a lead, but the Hawks were able to score with one second on the clock to send the game to halftime tied at 5.
After the break, both teams battled but could not find a breakthrough. Evan Stack made 5 saves in the Panther goal to keep the game tied, while the Panthers forced Hilbert's goalie to make 3 of his own.
In the 4th, the Panthers went back in front after 22 seconds. Byers fed Joshua Held a pass behind the net, who took two steps in front and fired past the goalie to give Pitt-Bradford a 6-5 lead. The Panthers held off the Hawks for the majority of the quarter, as Stack made one save and Nolan Walsh added another after he stepped in for 3 minutes as Stack was checked for an injury. The Panthers nearly held off the Hawks, but with just seconds on the shot clock and 50 seconds to go, Hilbert found the game-tying goal to force overtime.
In the extra period, the Panthers lost control just after the faceoff, and never regained possession of the ball. Hilbert missed the net with one shot, and then after 1:04 of overtime, beat Stack to his left to win the game.
Ben Byers finished the game with 3 goals and an assist. He tallied 15 shots, putting 7 on target, while picking up 4 ground balls. Billy Tigar, Julian Florez, and Joshua Held all scored once for the Panthers. Evan Stack (4-5) made 9 saves in the loss, while Nolan Walsh also added one.
The Panthers finish their inaugural season with a 5-7 record. They look forward to a bright future as the young team won 5 games, and clinched a home game in the playoffs during their first season. All-Conference selections from the AMCC will be announced next week.
