LEWISBURG, Pa. ? Junior goalkeeper Rob Wheeler tied a career high by making 14 saves, including six in the fourth quarter, as the Tigers (3-4) overcame a one-goal half-time deficit to earn their second straight win, an 8-7 non-conference victory over Bucknell University (4-5) at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Wheeler, who recorded 14 saves for the third time this season, made three pivotal point-blank saves in the final minute of regulation. With 33 seconds left, Wheeler stopped a shot by junior attackman Tim Brandau before making a save on a shot by freshman attackman Charlie Streep with 19 seconds remaining.
He also stopped a game-tying attempt by senior attackman Joe Mele with 11 seconds left. With five seconds left, the Bison had one last chance to tie the game, but a shot by senior Perry Menzies sailed high to preserve the Tigers' one-goal advantage.
“Wheeler came up big in the end for us,” Towson Coach Tony Seaman said. “I thought our play in the third quarter turned it around for us. We made some adjustments at half-time that worked to our advantage.”
After the teams traded goals twice in the first quarter, the Bison took a 3-2 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the second period when Streep scored his second goal of the game, an unassisted marker past Wheeler.
The Tigers, who were playing in Lewisburg for the first time since the 1994 season, tied the game at 3-3 with 12:59 remaining when junior midfielder Brock Armour scored his seventh goal of the season off an assist from senior midfielder Justin Schneider.
Senior midfielder Doug Buckley regained the Bison's one-goal edge with just over 11 minutes left in the stanza with an unassisted goal, but the Tigers answered by scoring three straight times to take a 6-4 advantage with 2:21 left in the stanza.
Junior attackman Chris Palmer ended the Tigers' quick run by scoring his fourth goal of the season with 1:19 remaining in the third period. Just over a minute into the fourth quarter, Streep tied the game at 6-6 with his third goal of the game off a feed from freshman attackman Billy Eisenreich.
Freshman attackman Sean Maguire and junior midfielder Will Harrington responded for Towson, scoring consecutive goals in a 32-second span to regain an 8-6 lead.
With 3:54 left, Streep narrowed the Bucknell deficit to 8-7 by scoring an unassisted goal past Wheeler. However, the Tiger defense held on and limited the Bison to just four shots in the final four minutes.
While Wheeler led the Tigers with 14 saves, Harrington paced the offense with two goals and an assist. Senior attackman Bill McCutcheon, who was named as the CAA Player of the Week on Monday, added two goals to extend his goal-scoring streak to seven straight games.
Senior goalkeepers Matt Antonelli and Nick Sciubba combined to make 10 saves for the Bison, who were outshot by a 32-27 margin.
The Tigers, who started a three-game road trip on Tuesday night, will resume their Colonial Athletic Association schedule on Saturday afternoon when they travel to Drexel University for a 3 p.m. game against the Dragons. The game will be televised on The Comcast Network with Mike Corey and Leif Elsmo providing the play-by-play.
