NEWARK, NJ—Visiting Dartmouth scored twice just past the midpoint of the fourth quarter Tuesday afternoon to pull out a 7-5 men's lacrosse victory over NJIT, which played the final contest of its 12-game inaugural varsity season.
With the victory, Darmouth's record is 4-6, with three regular season games, plus the Ivy League Tournament, still to play. NJIT wraps up its debut season winless in 12 tries.
For NJIT, the loss to Dartmouth marked the third time this season the Highlanders finished on the short side by a margin of two goals, the closest scoring differential of the year.
However, in the previous two-goal defeats, NJIT trailed big early and climbed back closer late. On Tuesday, the score was knotted at 4-4 after three quarters and was tied 5-5 less than two minutes into the final quarter.
In a 9-7 loss to UMass Lowell on March 7, NJIT trailed 8-1 at halftime. On March 31 at Manhattan, in a 7-5 defeat, the Highlanders fell into a 5-1 first-half hole before scoring with a second left in the second quarter. They kept their momentum got to within 5-4, but never managed to tie.
Hosting Dartmouth, the Highlanders gave up two quick goals in the opening 1:37, but came back to level the score at 2-2. However, the Big Green went back ahead on a goal with 57 seconds remaining in the first quarter and the visitors added the only second-quarter goal for either side to take a 4-2 lead into the locker room at halftime.
NJIT answered by scoring the only two goals in the third quarter and the 4-4 deadlock held until Dartmouth freshman Jack Korzelius, a high school All-American, notched unassisted goals with 7:26 and 5:51 left, respectively, to lift his team to victory. Korzelius, who had a hat trick, all in the second half, now has 16 goals for the Big Green, tops on the team.
Adam Fishman, Jack Connolly, Cody George, and Billy Heidt all scored one apiece to account for the other Dartmouth goals. Sophomore Wiley Osborne had all four assists for the visitors.
Junior Blair Friedensohn got the win in goal for Dartmouth after stopping 11 NJIT shots.
Liam Derkasch led NJIT on Tuesday with a pair of goals and they were big ones, tying the score at 4-4 with 39 seconds left in the third quarter and at 5-5 with 13:08 left in the game. Both tallies were unassisted.
The Highlanders also got one goal each from
Tyler Baggett, his ninth, assisted by
Jake Smolokoff;
Joe Lomeli, his team-leading 19th, unassisted; and,
Gabe Giovanello, his fourth, helped by
Ryan Bradway.
Like all but two players on the roster, Lomeli is a freshman and he completed his rookie year having scored at least one goal in each of the team's 12 games.
NJIT goalie
Nick Marzullo, who earned post-game praise throughout the year from his coaches, made seven saves against Dartmouth. The Big Green shot totals of 24 overall and 14 on goal, were the lowest Marzullo faced this season.
The game began with Fishman scoring his 15th goal of the season for Dartmouth a minute in and Connolly making it 2-0, Big Green, 37 seconds later.
Baggett scored his goal for NJIT at 6:08 of the opening period and Lomeli's goal tied the score with 1:17 left in the first quarter.
However, George struck 20 seconds later and Korzelius scored the only second-quarter goal with 11:50 left in the opening half.
Giovanello and Bradway connected with 11:40 on the clock in the third quarter and Derkasch's first goal, made it 4-4 with 39 seconds to play in the third.
The tie was short-lived, as Heidt put the ball in the net 1:13 into the final quarter, giving the visitors a 5-4 edge.
Derkasch answered for NJIT just 39 seconds after for a 5-5 score that was broken on Korzelius goals at 7:26 and 5:51.
The Highlanders, who were not penalized at all in the contest, got a man advantage after Dartmouth was flagged for a cross-check at midfield with 5:32 left, but nothing came of the penalty.
NJIT did not win in its first varsity season.
Given the physical nature of the sport, the beatings in the most challenging games go beyond what the scoreboard says and reach into a competitor's will to compete for the sake of personal and team pride. That dimension, the will to compete in the face of adversity, was an x-factor for NJIT going into the season since there was no history to provide clues.
For NJIT to play its most competitive game of the season on the last day and against a respected, established program, speaks well as the program looks ahead.
The nearly all-freshman roster got more playing time than is typically available to so many first-year players at the Division I level. This group, with its hard-earned lessons, will form the core of a tested and full 2016 Highlander sophomore class, to be supplemented by another wave of freshmen who will enter school in August.
