Thomas Flibotte scored 2:45 into sudden-death overtime and the Bucknell men’s lacrosse team stunned 12th-ranked and previously unbeaten Brown 10-9 on Tuesday afternoon. In a game of wild momentum swings, the Bison held the nation’s highest scoring team scoreless for the final 19:56 of the contest.
Bucknell, ranked just outside the top 20 in the USILA Coaches’ Poll this week, won its fourth straight game to improve to 6-2 on the season. Three of the team’s victories have come against ranked opponents, and this one came on the road against a Brown squad that was coming off a 14-9 rout of No. 10 Harvard over the weekend.
Brown came into the game leading all Division I teams in scoring at 17.6 goals per game. The Bison held them to roughly half of that average, and all of the Bears’ scoring was confined to three scoring bursts in the first three quarters.
Sean Doyle scored the game’s opening goal for the Bison, but over a five-minute span Brown rattled off five straight goals to go up 5-1. Dylan Molloy, the nation’s leading scorer, had a hand in all five with two goals an an assist.
Alex Ryan and Kyle Shanahan got two back for Bucknell by the end of the first quarter, and then in the first 4:39 of the second period the Bison scored four more times to grab a 7-5 lead. David Dickson potted the equalizer, and then Ryan Joseph gave them the lead.
The momentum swung back in Brown’s favor later in the half, and Kylor Bellistri’s goal with 49 seconds left tied the game at 7-7 at the half.
Brown stretched the run to four straight with goals from Henry Blynn and Bellistri in the third period, but the Bison tied it in the fourth on scores by Doyle and Joseph, the latter coming with 7:25 remaining.
Bucknell launched a flurry of shots later in the final period but could not get one past goalie Jack Kelly. Sam Grinberg made a clutch save on Brendan Caputo with 1:19 to go. The Bison cleared and played for a final shot, but two attempts went wide as regulation time expired.
Brown won the overtime faceoff on a technical violation, but Grinberg made another key save on Bellistri two minutes in. The Bison cleared, and Flibotte beat Kelly with a shot moments later to give the Bison their second OT win of the season. Joseph scored in extra time to give Bucknell a 9-8 win at Lehigh to start this winning streak.
Doyle, Shanahan, Joseph and Ryan scored two goals each for the Bison, while Grinberg finished with 12 saves. Bellistri had a hat trick and Molloy just those five first-quarter points for Brown. The Bears had a 38-33 shot advantage.
Bucknell will return to New England on Saturday for a Patriot League game at Boston University on Saturday.
