The No. 6 Arizona men's club lacrosse team dodged another bullet Friday night, avoiding a second-straight overtime game with 7-6 victory over No. 20 Chapman at Murphy Stadium.
With six minutes left in the fourth quarter and the score tied 5-5, the Laxcats (7-2, 2-0 Western Collegiate Lacrosse League) were forced to dig deep once again. Senior attackman Dave Sherman beat the Chapman defense down the right side of the field and ran straight for the pipes. He found junior attackman Greg Polheber slashing from the left point and fed him the go-ahead goal.
Junior goaltender Charlie Salemi iced the game when Chapman midfielder Matt Goto broke loose through the Arizona defense and sprinted at the goaltender, pumping his stick one-on-one.
After Goto faked his shot several times, Salemi pulled his stick from the other side of his body, stopping Goto cold.
"It was all reflex," Salemi said. "I was watching him before game time and knew he was going to go off-stick high."
The third quarter resembled a bar fight, as slashes and pushes led to several penalties for both squads. Due to the lack of personnel on the field, the game went into a stalemate for the remainder of the third quarter.
The Laxcat defense remained in control, as entries into the crease were consistently denied.
This forced Chapman to shoot from the outside, as midfielder Ryan French scored his second goal of the night to bring Chapman within one with two minutes to go in the game.
Midway through the second quarter, after Chapman had added its second goal of the period, Arizona bounced back on offense.
The Laxcats moved the ball quickly along the perimeter, scoring two goals to tie the game before Chapman jumped out to a two-goal lead.
"Although we had some trouble early, I think the offense worked quite well," said attackman Adam Paris.
Arizona came out of the gates slower than expected, as the Laxcats had several injured players. The Laxcats managed only two shots in the first quarter. Chapman attackman Daniel Metoyer opened the evening with a well-placed shot over Salemi's right shoulder.
Arizona meets No. 2 UC-Santa Barbara April 9. The Gauchos (10-1) defeated the Laxcats 9-8 last season in Tucson.