By Chris Dacey
The Holy Cross men’s lacrosse team pretty much dominated many statistical categories on Saturday against the Quinnipiac Bobcats, but somehow the Bobcats had a chance to tie the game up at the end.
Yet Brian Feldman’s shot was saved as time ran out on a 14-13 loss.
Feldman has his tying bid saved and Holy Cross holds on 14-13. Bobcats return to MAAC play next weekend at Detroit.
— Quinnipiac Men’s Lacrosse (@QU_MLAX) March 24, 2018
“I told the guys at halftime that we are getting statically elongated and it’s a close game,” head coach Eric Fekete said. “I don’t think it was for a lack of effort. [Holy Cross] out hustled us and I give them credit.”
Indeed Holy Cross did out hustle Quinnipiac. The Crusaders scooped up 40 ground balls compared to the Bobcats 18, and Holy Cross won 24 of 30 face-offs in the game.
“It’s always good to be in the game even if you don’t feel like you are playing your best,” freshman Jake Tomsik said. “But at the end of the day we didn’t get it done and it stinks but we have to move on to Detroit.”
The Bobcats have now dropped two games in a row after losing at Hartford on Tuesday. But Tomsik was not surprised by this Holy Cross team.
Coming into the game the Crusaders only had one win under their belts, but the competition they were playing was admirable.
“We knew we couldn’t take them lightly,” Tomsik said. “We knew that they were gonna come out with everything they got and their one win was against Harvard so we knew they were not a bad team.”
Two other notable teams Holy Cross played this season were Army West Point and Loyola (MD) who are ranked in the top 25.
After the Siena game, Fekete said that it seems like every game someone new steps up for the Bobcats on the offensive end.
Saturday is was Feldman.
The senior tallied four goals on nine shots in the losing effort and had the opportunity to tie the game up at the end.
“He is a veteran goal scorer and at the end of the game we wanted to get the ball in his stick and let him get the best shot,” Fekete said.
Feldman had to carry the offense against because the Bobcats were depleted with multiple players, all midfielders, out due to injury. Matt Frost and Anthony Carchietta were both watching from the bench.
In net for the Bobcats was sophomore Joe Zukauskas, and not senior Carson Cocco.
Zukauskas was in net for the win against Siena, while Cocco was in net for the loss at Hartford.
“I thought Joe made some big saves and I thought he let some in that he shouldn’t have,” Fekete said. “But I don’t think that was the biggest issue in this game, it was faceoffs.”
Fekete explained how much those lost faceoffs threw off the tempo of the game for Quinnipiac, and how it allowed Holy Cross to control much of the possession throughout the game.
“You gotta break the game the way it plays out and we gotta learn how to win,” Fekete said. “We have won some and we have lost some and I think every way you have to win over the course of the season shapes your character.”
Fekete did have some positives to take out of the game that put the Bobcats at 4-5 on the season.
“We just got to get back to business,” Fekete said. “Saturday is another day and we are fortunate that this isn’t a league game and this doesn’t affect the big picture in the MAAC so we just got to be proactive and not reactive and get to business.”
Saturday’s game against Detroit is set for 11 a.m. in Michigan.
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