Defense Stands Tall in Men’s Lacrosse Triple-Overtime Thriller

MEQUON, Wis. – The CUW men's lacrosse team took on the Benedictine Eagles in a 2022 NACC Tournament Semifinal rematch on Fitting Field.

The Blue and White struck first with a pair of goals off the sticks of sophomores Chase Drexler (Vernon Hills, Ill.) and Gio Nowotarski (Reading, Pa.).

The Eagles scored their lone goal of the first quarter with 23 seconds remaining.

It was all Benedictine for 14 and a half minutes of the second quarter with the Eagles scoring six straight to take a 7-2 lead.

Nowotarski cut the Eagle lead with a man-up goal with 29 seconds remaining in the half. He was assisted by sophomore Pat Ryan (Western Springs, Ill.).

The Eagles held a 7-3 lead heading into the second half.

Benedictine opened the second half with two more goals to take the 9-3 lead just over halfway through the third quarter.

Just ten seconds after the ninth Eagle goal, sophomore Max Esposito (Gaithersburg, Md.) netted his first goal of the game off an assist from junior Caleb Ruger (Grafton, Wis.).

Nowotarski took it upon himself to net the next three Falcon goals to put the Blue and White back into striking distance with the game at 9-7. Esposito assisted the first and freshman Jason Michalski (Grosse Pointe Woods, Mich.) assisted on the third which was also a man-up goal.

Pat Ryan opened the final frame with a Falcon goal just under halfway through the fourth quarter. 

Ruger then tied the game at nine with an assist from Esposito.

The Eagles took the lead back with just over three minutes left in the matchup.

Esposito found the back of the net off an assist from Ruger to tie the game back up at 10 with two minutes left.

A three-minute hit to the head penalty put senior Noah Brandt (Owatonna, Minn.) in the penalty box for the rest of the fourth quarter and most of the first overtime when it came at 00:15 in the fourth.

The Falcons had to fight off a myriad of Eagle attacks while a man down. Of senior Evan Leden's (Waukegan, Ill.) 14 saves, five of them came in the two overtime periods.

Neither the first nor second overtime periods determined a winner, so the teams headed into the third overtime. Ruger found Pat Ryan on the breakaway to lift the Falcons over the Eagles with 3:34 left in the third overtime.

Nowotarski led the offense with five goals. He took nine shots on goal for a 55.5 shooting percentage.

Brandt won 12 of the 18 faceoffs that he took and freshman Frank Trewyn (Mukwonago, Wis.) won three.

The Falcon's penalty kill was on fire and didn't give up a goal while down a man.

The Blue and White set their sights on Marian in another conference matchup on Tuesday.