POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. — In only the second-ever overtime game in program history, the NJIT men's lacrosse team put together an all-time performance but were narrowly edged by the Marist Red Foxes, 12-11, Tuesday evening at Tenney Stadium At Leonidoff Field. The Highlanders (0-10, 0-3 AE) carried the momentum from Saturday's matchup at Stony Brook into their non-conference finale with Marist (4-7, 2-1 MAAC) and put themselves in prime position to earn their first victory of the season but unfortunately came out on the other side of an instant classic.
The first career hat trick for sophomore
Garrett Muscatella paced the Highlanders as one of four players with three points in the game.
Gavyn Willson continued his personal streak with his seventh multi-point game in seven games played (2 G, 1 A tonight) while
Gage Adams matched WIllson's output for his third career multi-goal outing of his first season. Rounding out the quartet was
Collin Fogerty, who had a team-high two assists along with his goal.
Adams also added a team-best and career-high four ground balls as one of 14 Highlanders to register a pickup. Vanzomeren shared time with
Billy Kroeger at the faceoff and both players went . 500 on the day (8-16 and 5-10, respectively). NJIT was only able to cause three turnovers individually -
Teddy Grimley, Kroeger and
Lynch Raby earned one apiece.
1ST QUARTER
- NJIT and Marist went scoreless for the first 5:30 of the game before the host Red Foxes put the first goal on the board.
- Marist would add a second score at the 7:18 mark but the Highlanders would fight back with two quicker goals of their own. Adams fought through a hit to the helmet to score an unassisted goal (6:03) and Muscatella would capitalize on a long rebound of an Arthur Miller saved shot to bring NJIT back even at 2-2.
- Marist would respond with two more goals of their own to put NJIT at a 4-2 disadvantage after one period.
2ND QUARTER
- Marist took their largest lead of the game (5-2) just over a minute into the second (13:50) but NJIT rattled off three straight goals to knot up the score at 5-5.
- Willson got onto the box score off an assist from Hone (11:53) and Fogerty set up back-to-back man-up goals (Miller, 8:52; Willson, 8:19).
- After Marist regained the lead at the 7:40 mark, NJIT put together another three-goal stretch to pull ahead, 8-6.
- Vanzomeren scored the first goal of his career, taking a faceoff win to the net himself and converting on only his third shot of the year (7:35).
- Muscatella gave the Highlanders their first lead of the contest after cutting to the front of the net and putting away a touch shot from an Adams pass (6:01).
- In arguably the best sequence of the year, NJIT went from having Matthew Bowerman make a running open goal save on one end and Josh Failia fighting through multiple defenders and scoring a transition long pole goal on the other end (2:07).
3RD QUARTER
- Marist went 3-for-3 on scoring first in quarters, striking first less than 15 seconds into the second half (14:46). The Red Foxes would cause the game's fourth tie (8-8) with another score with 11:26 to go in the frame.
- NJIT took the lead back three minutes later as Corry picked up his first point on the assist that gave Muscatella his first career hat trick (8:26).
- The Red Foxes answered less than 30 seconds after the Highlanders to tie the game for a fifth time at 9-9 (7:57).
- Fogerty would add to his pair of assists with the solo score that would put NJIT back ahead, 10-9 (4:13).
4TH QUARTER
- The furious pace of the game slowed down a bit to start the fourth but Marist would complete their trend of first period goals at the 9:34 mark and tie the contest again at 10:10.
- The veteran-freshman connection of Willson to Adams put NJIT ahead 11-10 with 4:22 remaining in the game.
- A drawn penalty on NJIT paved the way for a seventh tie as Marist converted on their man-up chance with 3:10 to go to make it 11-11, where the score would stay until overtime.
OVERTIME
- NJIT had the first chance to win the sudden death overtime after winning the opening faceoff but were forced into a turnover.
- Marist regained possession, cleared into their zone, and were able to get off three separate shots, including the game winner with 2:34 left.
OTHER NOTES
- Liam Brown made 21 saves Tuesday night, matching his career high set against Lehigh on Feb. 22, 2020. Brown once again was one shy of Alexzander Hunt's school record of 22 against Delaware on February 16, 2019.
- Tonight was the second overtime game in NJIT history and first since the Highlanders played at UMass Lowell in a pre-America East contest on April 30, 2016 (won 7-6 by UML).
- NJIT scored double digit goals for the second straight game after not reaching that mark in the first eight games of 2022 or 13 games dating back to last season. The last time NJIT was able to put up consecutive games of 10+ goals was back in 2019 when the Highlanders posted four straight double-digit efforts against Wagner (11), at Manhattan (10), at Hampton (26) and at Siena (18).
- The immediate focus for the team will be cutting down its turnovers. While NJIT played Marist even on faceoffs (both 13-26), ground balls (35 to 35), extra man opportunities (both 2-4) and clears (25 to 25), the Highlanders conceded ten more turnovers (21 to 11), which contributed to Marist's +19 advantage on shot attempts (56 to 37).
