LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY USES LAST SECOND HEROICS TO DISPATCH ST. FRANCIS COLLEGE 12-11

Cody Jones scores in contest.

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — With one second on the clock, No. 18-ranked Loyola Marymount University scored the game-winning goal to defeat St. Francis College Brooklyn, 12-11, on the opening day of the Santa Clara University Julian Fraser Memorial Tournament. Neither team held more than a two goal lead throughout the game before LMU’s Joseph Shaw shattered the tie to hand the Lions a win.

St. Francis opened the game with a goal by Bogdan Kostic 44 seconds into the contest, but Alexandros Athymaritis, Blazo Mitrovic, and Eric Reitmeir went back-to-back-to-back to give LMU the 3-1 lead. The Terriers added one more before the end of the quarter as Nikita Prokhin ripped in a shot with 16 seconds left to make it a 3-2 game after eight minutes.

St. Francis tied the score as Kostic struck again with 5:26 remaining in the the second quarter before both teams scored in the final minute to lock the scoreboard at four-all at the break. Mitrovic gave LMU the lead back with 40 seconds remaining before the half, but the Terriers tied it on their next possession as Matheus Santos slammed home the equalizer.

Santos’ goal appeared to shift the momentum in favor of the Terriers as St. Francis Brooklyn scored three of the first four goals of the second half to take a 7-5 lead with 6:21 to play in the third.

Santos posted his second consecutive strike at the 7:37 mark of the third quarter prior to Athymaritis’ tying the score at five-all 20 seconds later.  William Lapkin and Kostic pushed St. Francis Brooklyn back in front at 7-5 as the duo deposited blasts in a 16-second window at 6:37 and 6:21, respectively.

However, the Lions did not sleep tonight as Mitrovic and Reitmeir answered with consecutive goals to even the score at seven-all. The two teams traded goals to end the quarter as Cody Alexander-Jones (South Broward High, Hollywood, Florida) juked his defender and lined in a shot at 1:39 for an 8-7 SFC lead prior to Mitrovic tying the score with 41 seconds on the clock.

The two teams went back-and-forth, trading off the first six goals of the final quarter.

Shaw scored his first of the game to open the scoring in the fourth quarter at 3:54, as neither team was able to solve the other’s defense for over four minutes in the final frame. After St. Francis responded with a tally by Prokhin at 3:38, Mitrovic added one more to push LMU ahead 10-9. The Terriers again tied it as Lapkin lobbed in his team’s 10th tally with 58 seconds remaining to ignite a furious sprint to the final buzzer.

Daniel Arellano erased the tie to give the Lions the lead with 41 seconds remaining in regulation, but the Terriers pulled even with 10 seconds on the clock as Botond Kadar cracked in a shot to set the stage for overtime.

However, Djorde Stanic was excluded with three ticks left on the clock to give Loyola Marymount a fortuitous break. With the man advantage, Shaw put the Lions ahead for good, scoring with just a second remaining to allow the Lions to escape with a win.