Penn survives 11-10 OT thriller versus Richmond, St. Joseph’s can’t hold on against Yale in NCAA men’s lacrosse tournament action

“Bye bye, see you later,” University of Pennsylvania midfielder Sam Handley taunted at the Richmond fans as the sticks went flying.

At Penn Park, the No. 3 Penn Quakers (11-4) survived adversity against Richmond (11-5) in an 11-10 overtime victory. Up in New Haven, Conn, however, St. Joseph’s University(14-4) couldn’t keep up with No. 4 Yale (12-4) in a 18-16 defeat.

This is Penn’s 14th appearance in the NCAA tournament and seventh time hosting. Seeded third in the 18-team bracket, this is the highest the Quakers have ever been ranked. Meanwhile, its Northeast Conference championship gave St. Joe’s a first-ever berth into the national tournament.

With Penn’s commencement taking place at the same time as the game, the teams took to the Dunning-Cohen Champions Field at Penn Park. Instead of their traditional locker room arrangements at the stadium, the teams hulled up in the Penn Ice Rink.

“We practiced down there all week,” freshman attacker Ben Smith said. “It’s kind of cool playing down there with the city in the back.”

After giving up two goals in the span of 10 seconds, Penn roared back by going on a 5-0 run of their own to close out the first quarter 5-2.

At the half, Penn was up 7-6 over Richmond although shots on goal were 15-14 in Richmond’s favor. The difference maker was senior goalie Patrick Burkinshaw who made nine saves for an overall save percentage of .643. For averaging 18 saves per game during the Ivy League tournament last weekend, he was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Player.

The Quakers could also thank their halftime lead to Smith, who notched his third career hat trick within the first 30 minutes.

“Most seniors have been giving me a lot of confidence lately,” the rookie said. “All the younger guys… have been stepping up lately because of injuries.”

Penn took its time recuperating after the half, scoring its first goal with just 2:26 remaining in the third quarter. After 45 minutes, the Spiders had completely erased the Quaker lead with the score tied at eight.

It was do or die time in the final minutes of the game with the score tied at nine. A slashing penalty on Tyler Kuehl created a one-minute man-up advantage for the Spiders. The visitors quickly made the most of their man-up advantage and beat Burkinshaw to make the score 10-9 with less than four minutes remaining in regulation.

The game looked grim when Richmond goalie Zach Vigue saved a shot off Gabe Furey’s stick with one minute remaining. A turnover in Penn’s offensive zone suddenly created another opportunity to tie for the Quakers. Tewaaraton finalist and Ivy Player of the Year Handley passed the ball through traffic to Smith, who immediately shot low to tie the game again at 10 with 29 seconds left in the regulation period.

It only took one possession for Penn to take the lead — and the game — in the overtime period. Smith notched a career-high fifth goal off a feed from Furey. Just like that, the Quakers advance to the round of eight.

“Cardiac Quakes. That’s it,” Handley said after the game about his team’s ability to pull out the win late.

Penn had just beaten Yale in the Ivy League title game last weekend. Now, St. Joseph’s looked to hand Yale its second straight loss to a Philadelphia team.

Senior face-off specialist Zach Cole made the difference in the game with his prowess at the circle. He leads the NCAA in face-off win percentage with .689 and continued his winning ways at nationals. At the half, the Hawks had gone 14-for-18 in faceoffs.

The extra possessions Cole gave the Hawks lead to a back-and-forth game with the Bulldogs: the game was tied at nine different points throughout the match.

St. Joe’s held the lead for the majority of the first half, with their largest lead of three goals coming toward the end of the second quarter. However, a seven-goal third quarter from Yale was enough to keep St. Joe’s from reclaiming the lead for the remainder of the game.

Yale has advanced to the NCAA title game in each of its last two seasons. Even though this was the program’s first time playing on the national stage, they gave the seasoned home team a run for its money.

Penn will travel out to Hempstead, N.Y. on Saturday, May 21 to face either No. 6 Rutgers or Harvard in the quarterfinals.