In a men's lacrosse game between No. 15 Towson and Navy beset by a chilly rain, 39 combined turnovers and just 15 goals on 69 shots, perhaps it's fitting that the matchup ended on a broken play.
T.J. Hanzsche's only goal Tuesday night was the most important one as the junior attackman converted a pass from senior midfielder Gabe Voumard with 16 seconds left in the third overtime to lift the host Midshipmen to an 8-7 win over the Tigers at Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium.
The win gave Navy (3-2) consecutive wins over ranked opponents for the first time since April 2009, when that team beat No. 17 Colegate and No. 15 Bucknell in the Patriot League tournament. The Midshipmen beat then-No. 19 Holy Cross on Saturday.
Navy coach Rick Sowell has talked repeatedly about finding ways to score other than in typical six-on-six situations, and he got his wish with Hanzsche's game-winner.
"The first couple of overtimes, I had talked about, 'We're going to win the faceoff and we'll call a timeout and we'll set up a play,'" Sowell said. "By the third one, we were just like, 'Someone's got to make a play in transition or we'll make a stop.' I was feeling that one way or another, it was going to come to that. Thank God it was us who made that play."
The game-winning play began while the Tigers were attempting to clear the ball. But sophomore attackman Joe Seider was stripped by Navy sophomore long-stick midfielder Matt Rees, and senior defenseman Ryan Everson pounced on the loose ball.
Everson passed the ball to Voumard (game-high three points on one goal and two assists), who crossed the restraining line and spotted Hanzsche alone on the right side of the crease. Towson redshirt senior goalkeeper Tyler White tried to intercept the pass, but he missed, and Hanzsche had an empty net in which to deposit the ball.
"I saw him jump it a little bit, and it's a lot easier shooting it into an empty net than him coming out," said Hanzsche, who also had an assist. "I kind of saw him jump it, and it was close. He almost had it. I was able to catch it, roll, and put it in."
White, who made a game- and season-best 14 saves, said he could have stayed in the cage, but thought he had a chance to make a play on the ball.
"I looked back and there was no one behind me," he said. "It was a split-second decision. I went with what I thought I had to do. I thought if I could steal one and give the offense another chance, then it would have been good. So I just made a decision and went with it."
White was backed by coach Shawn Nadelen, who said, "I don't question his decision. He tried to make a play."
In a game in which the largest lead was two and there were five ties, the Midshipmen appeared to have it wrapped up in regulation. But with 32 seconds left in the fourth quarter, junior attackman Patrick Keena was flagged for a 30-second penalty for delay of game.
It took the Tigers just nine seconds for sophomore attackman Ryan Drenner to convert a feed from redshirt senior midfielder Andrew Hodgson and knot the score, 7-7.
Junior midfielder Kevin Wendel and freshman attackman Jack Ray each scored twice. Junior goalkeeper John Connors finished with 11 saves, and sophomore Brady Dove won 13 of 19 faceoffs and scooped up a game-high eight ground balls.
After going 2-7 in one-goal games in Sowell's first three seasons, Navy is 2-1 in one-goal games this season. Sowell said the team felt comfortable going into overtime.
"We just felt confident we were going to make the last play," he said. "We didn't know what it was going to be, and I certainly wasn't anticipating it would take three overtimes to make that last play. But we've been talking a lot these past couple weeks about making that next play. Whatever happens, whether it's good, bad or indifferent, let's focus on that next play."