TOWSON, Md. - Senior attackman Tim Brandau scored a career-high six goals, including four in the fourth quarter, and added two assists as 15th-ranked Bucknell University (2-1) overcame a two-goal deficit to earn a 13-9 non-conference victory over Towson University (0-1) in the Tigers' season opener at Johnny Unitas® Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Bison's leading scorer with 11 goals and 2 assists, Brandau tallied three straight goals to open the fourth quarter as Bucknell overcame a 9-7 deficit to win its second straight game.
"I thought we played well for 45 minutes today, but made some critical mistakes in the fourth quarter," Towson Coach Tony Seaman said. "We were ahead by two goals heading into the fourth quarter and made too many errors, especially in the clearing game, which gave them some easy goals."
The Tigers took a quick 1-0 lead just over three minutes into the first quarter when freshman attackman Matt Hughes scored an unassisted goal. However, the Bison answered and scored two goals in a 70-second span to take a one-goal advantage with 3:46 left.
The Tigers responded by scoring four straight goals, including a man-down goal by sophomore midfielder Kevin Lalley, to take a 5-2 lead with 2:43 remaining in the first half. With 2:33 remaining, Brandau narrowed the margin to 5-3 by scoring his first goal of the game off a feed from senior attackman Austin Winter.
After sophomore attackman Stephen Norris scored to give Towson a 6-3 advantage, the Bison answered with three consecutive goals, including a pair of markers from junior attackman Mike Danylyshyn, to even the score at 6-6 with 8:04 left in the third quarter.
However, the Tigers quickly regained the lead when redshirt freshman midfielder Matt Thomas won the ensuing face-off and raced down the field to score the first goal of his college career just five seconds later to regain the one-goal edge for Towson.
Brandau tied the game with his second goal of the game with 6:35 remaining in the third quarter off a feed from junior midfielder Ryan Klipstein. But, the Tigers regained the advantage in the final three minutes with back-to-back goals from senior Pat Britton and junior Tim Stratton, giving Towson a 9-7 edge heading into the fourth quarter.
With the Bison trailing by two goals, Brandau scored a natural "hat trick" in the first ten minutes of the fourth quarter as Bucknell outscored Towson by a 6-0 margin in the final period. He also added a goal with five seconds remaining to seal the victory. Danylyshyn and junior midfielder Jake Clarke also scored in the final period as the Bison scored six times on just nine shots.
While Brandau scored six goals with two assists, Danylyshyn added a season-high three goals for the Bison, who beat Towson for the second time in the last three meetings.
"When Tim gets the opportunity near the goal, he finishes," Bucknell Coach Frank Fedorjaka said. "He does what is needed to take care of business. We are happy he grew up with a lacrosse stick in his hand."
Stratton scored a goal with two assists to lead the Tigers while Thomas scored a goal while winning 14 of 26 face-offs with six ground balls.
The Tigers will begin a two-game road trip on Saturday when they travel to Stony Brook for a 1 p.m. game against the Seawolves. Meanwhile, the Bison will travel to Navy next Saturday for a Patriot League game against the Midshipmen.
College Men's Lacrosse: #15 Bucknell University 13, Towson University 9
#15 Bucknell (2-1) 2-1-4-6 / 13
Towson (0-1) 1-4-4-0 / 9
Goals: BUCK - Tim Brandau 6, Mike Danylyshyn 3, Billy Eisenreich 2, Ryan Klipstein 1, Jake Clarke 1; TOW - Tim Stratton 1, Will Harrington 1, Matt Hughes 1, Stephen Norris 1, Christian Pastirik 1, Carl Iacona 1, Pat Britton 1, Matt Thomas 1, Kevin Lalley 1. Assists: BUCK - Austin Winter 3, Tim Brandau 2, Billy Eisenreich 1, Ryan Klipstein 1, Chris Palmer 1, Charlie Streep 1; TOW - Tim Stratton 2, Brock Armour 1, Will Harrington 1, Matt Hughes 1, Peter Mezzanotte 1, Stephen Norris 1. Saves: BUCK - Kyle Feeney 1 (23:51, 4 goals allowed), Sam Finnell 8 (36:09, 5 goals allowed); TOW - Rob Wheeler 6 (60:00, 13 goals allowed). Shots: BUCK - 31; TOW - 31. Extra-Man Opportunities: BUCK - 0 for 5; TOW - 0 for 1. Attendance: 1,284.
Post-Game Notes:
- Saturday's meeting between the Tigers and the Bison was the 18th meeting in a series which Towson leads by a 15-3 margin ... However, the Bison have won each of the last two games played at Unitas Stadium.
- The Tigers have lost the season opener in each of the last three years ... Towson is now 23-29 all-time in season openers.
- With his goal in the third quarter, Stratton scored a goal for the seventh straight game, dating back to last season ... Stratton has scored 10 goals during the seven-game streak.
- Stratton also tied a career high with two assists in the loss against Bucknell on Saturday ... It was the fifth multi-assist game of his career and the first since last year's season opener at Loyola.
- The Tigers had nine players account for their nine goals on Saturday.
- Prior to Saturday, the Tigers had not scored a man-down goal since Bobby Griebe tallied a shorthanded goal against Villanova during the 2005 season.
- Norris' goal in the third quarter was the first goal of his college career.
- Hughes and Thomas also scored the first goals of their college career in the loss against Bucknell.
- Eisenreich scored a career-high two goals for Bucknell in Saturday's game ... He had scored five career goals entering Saturday's game against the Tigers.
- Danylyshyn recorded the second "hat trick" of his college career ... He scored a career-high four goals against Lehigh last year.
- Austin Winter tied a season high with three assists in the Bison's win over Towson ... He had three assists against Duke in the season opener.
- The six goals scored by Brandau are the most by a single player against the Tigers since Virginia's Ben Rubeor tallied seven goals on March 17, 2007.
- When Towson and Bucknell exchanged goals just five seconds apart in the third quarter, it was the fourth-fastest time between goals by opposing teams in NCAA history ... The NCAA record for fastest consecutive goals by opposing teams is 0:03, which was set by Manhattan and Delaware on March 9, 2003.
