The Orange and Blue men’s lacrosse team (4-6 overall, 2-4 in Patriot League) fell short of a victory against Army on Senior Day April 1 with a final score of 11-10. Will Sands ’18 led the charge for the Bison with one goal and his third straight five-assist game to aid in the comeback attempt.

The Black Knights got off to a dominant start in the first quarter, scoring two goals in the first three minutes of play. However, the Bison turned it around, gaining momentum and ending the first quarter trailing 4-2. Sands came out looking to spread the ball and find the open man as he assisted on the period’s two goals from Sean O’Brien ’18 and Quinn Collison ’17.

The Black Knights and the Bison went back and forth throughout the game in scoring. The game-plan was to keep finding the open man, especially Collison.

“My teammates were very unselfish and found me open on the crease several times. Will Sands had a great eye and we had a game plan to attack Army’s shortstick middies, which is what we did all game,” Collison said. “I popped open a couple times and my teammates happened to find me at those moments.”

Trailing 7-4 going into halftime, the Orange and Blue knew that they could hang in with the Black Knights if they continued to take advantage of the holes in the Army defense.

O’Brien, Reed Malas ’19, and Connor O’Hara ’18 all aided in the comeback effort, narrowing the score to 10-9 with 9:24 minutes left to play. Army scored a clutch goal in the fourth, giving the Black Knights a little bit of leeway to focus more on their defense against the Orange and Blue, rather than attack offensively and risk turnovers.

“Army plays a very aggressive style on defense. We knew that if we worked together as a team and stayed patient that we would generate great scoring opportunities,” Malas said.

The Bison gained a great sense of hope when Collison pulled off an incredible behind-the-back goal with 1:42 minutes left to play to aid in his career-high goal total of four, narrowing the margin to 11-10.

However, it was too late as the Bison turned the ball over with 20 seconds remaining in the game. The Orange and Blue managed to steal it back, but there was only enough time for one contested prayer of a shot from Malas, about 25 yards away, which sailed too high.

“I was very proud of our guys for how we fought [until] the end against Army.  They’re a great team and it shows that when we play hard and smart we can play with anyone in the country,” Sands said. “We need to get better and hopefully that shows against Mount St. Mary’s.”

The Bison will shake this loss off as they take on out-of-conference opponent Mount St. Mary’s on April 8 in Emmitsburg, Md. at 12 p.m.