With 6:57 to play in the second quarter, attackman Jack Walsh '09 received a pass from attackman Collins Carey '10, beat his man around the back of the cage and shoveled an underhanded shot by Massachusetts goalie Doc Schneider to give Brown a 4-2 lead.
The goal proved to be the game winner, as goalie Jordan Burke '09 helped hold the Minutemen to just one second-half goal on Saturday. The low-scoring 4-3 win over rival Massachusetts makes the men's lacrosse team 3-2 on the season, as it heads into its first Ivy League contest next weekend against Dartmouth. Massachusetts fell to 2-3.
The Bears got on the board first, within the first three minutes of the opening whistle. Tri-captain midfielder Jeff Hall '08 got the ball up top, drove his defender to the right side and then spun back to the middle, shooting a left-handed shot that beat Schneider in the bottom-right corner.
But the Minutemen backed up their moniker by quickly erasing the early deficit. It won the ensuing face-off, broke down the field and put the ball by the Brown defense just seven seconds later.
Only 1:04 after the equalizer, Massachusetts struck again as Evan Blum cut to the net, received a pass from Peter McNichols and bounced one by Burke to put the Minutemen up 2-1.
After that, the Brown defense locked down the Minutemen for, remarkably, more than 48 minutes. Massachusetts generated shots, outshooting Bruno 38-27 for the game, but many of them sailed wide and Burke saved the ones that did not, finishing the contest with 16 stops.
Burke said it was the two quick goals early on that woke the Bears up and helped them put a clamp on the Minutemen.
"It was a great team defensive effort," he said. "They got those early ones, and I refocused. They were saves I could have had."
Burke did more than refocus. He made every save in the second and third quarters and made some saves from point-blank range in the fourth quarter. In addition, after saves he was able to outlet the ball to defensive midfielders Brian Asher '08 and Mike Cummins '08 to quickly transition the team to offense.
"We encourage the men to break out, knowing that Jordan can make that pass," said Head Coach Lars Tiffany '90. "We encourage the men to cheat sometimes if there's a ground ball and it looks like we are going to get it."
Asher added that it's "one of the most fun parts of the game for us. Even if we don't score off it, it's a quick, easy clear."
After one save in the third quarter, Burke even started a fast break himself. He saw daylight in front of him and took the ball up over midfield before passing it off.
"It's not something I like to do often," Burke said of his sprint upfield. "I got it and started going. Once I crossed half, I knew I should stop."
Perhaps Burke's concerns were justified. Later in the game, Schneider, the Massachusetts goalie, took off with the ball after a save and was leveled by Hall, who received a penalty for an illegal bodycheck on the play.
Burke had help from the rest of the defense as well. Tiffany pointed to close defenseman Reed Deluca '08, who was assigned to the Minutemen's top scorer, Tim Balise. Though Balise scored two of Massachusetts' three goals, one came in transition and the other came in a man-up situation when Deluca was off the field.
Tiffany also cited strong performances from long-stick midfielder Jake Hardy '10, as well as Asher and Cummins.
"Mike Cummins and Brian Asher are always there," Tiffany said. "They are warriors. They do everything for us. Those two are truly indispensable."
While the Brown defense was incredible for most of the game, the offense was only as good in the first half. Attackman Thomas Muldoon '10 tied the score at two with 3:44 left in the first quarter in a man-up situation. The ball swung around clockwise to Muldoon in the slot and he fired one into the top-left corner.
Brown took the lead for good at the end of the first quarter as Burke outleted the ball after a save and midfielder Zach Caldwell '10 finished on the other end. The last goal was Walsh's, just as Brown went from man-down to even.
Bruno almost scored at the end of the second quarter after Burke outleted to Cummins to begin another fast break, but Schneider made the save. The chance proved to be one of Brown's last good ones, as the Bears were unable to score in the entire second half.
"Give the UMass defense and goalie credit," Tiffany said. "But (in) the second half, we have to look to ourselves to find the reasons for our inability to score. We didn't execute, didn't handle the pressure well. The first half we were aggressive, we attacked. The second half, we were tentative."
The slow second half has been a characteristic this season, Tiffany said, as the team has led at the half in each of its five game so far.
Fortunately for the offense, the defense stayed strong. Massachusetts cranked up the pressure in the fourth quarter, churning out 14 shots, but Brown did not crack with the lead late in the game. Balise got his man-up goal with 7:41 remaining, proving that Burke wasn't invincible. But after that, Brown gave up nothing else.
The Brown ride was particularly strong in the fourth quarter, creating some turnovers and allowing Massachusetts to convert just three of seven clears in the final period, after having cleared every one before that.
"Its tough when you play that much defense," Asher said of the final stretch of the game. "I didn't think they were going to tie it up, though. We always felt like we would make the stop. It's fun to play in close games like that."
In the final two minutes, there were many loose balls as Massachusetts pressed for the equalizer, but Asher came up with a ground ball with 12 seconds left to put out the fire for the last time and secure the 4-3 win.
"It was a huge game for us," Burke said. "One of the best I have ever played in. It is a big momentum builder for us going into Ivy League play next week."
Brown will take on Dartmouth Saturday at home at 1 p.m. The Bears will look to avenge a quadruple overtime loss to the Big Green last season.
