Air Force Suffers 11-7 Road Loss To Ohio State

April 21, 2006



Air Force Suffers 11-7 Road Loss To Ohio State



Columbus, Ohio - Suffering an unanswered 5-0 run to open the second half, the Air Force lacrosse team dropped an 11-7 decision to host Ohio State Sunday afternoon at Jesse Owens Memorial Stadium. With the loss, the Falcons fall to 7-8 on the season, 2-2 in the GWLL, while the Buckeyes improve to 6-5 on the year, 3-1 in league play.



Ohio State got out to the early lead with the first goal of the day for Kevin Buchanan, but Falcons' junior tri-captain Will Meister (Denver, Colo.) evened the score with 4:07 left in the opening period with an assist from sophomore Kevin Crumrine (Edgewater, Md.). However, Buchanan contributed on two more goals in the quarter, scoring a man-up goal and assisting on Joel Dalgarno's first score of the day, to give the Buckeyes a 3-1 lead at the end of the first period.



The Falcons got back within one point with an unassisted goal by freshman Griffin Nevitt (Charlotte, N.C.) more than halfway through the second period, but another man-up goal for Ohio State, this time by Andrew Bender, gave the Buckeyes the 4-2 advantage. Meister's second score of the day with 1:26 remaining in the half brought the score to 4-3 at intermission.



Ohio State extended its advantage after the break, scoring five unanswered goals before Nevitt stopped the run with a score with just 21 seconds remaining in the third period. Although Air Force outscored the Buckeyes 3-2 in the final quarter, including a man-up goal by junior Justin Kuchta (Ridgefield, Conn.) with just 16 seconds remaining, it was not enough as Ohio State ran away with the 11-7 victory.



The Falcons did outshoot the Buckeyes 41-36 for the game, but could only capitalize on 1-of-6 extra-man opportunities. Meanwhile, Ohio State went 2-for-3 on its man-up attempts and won 14-of-21 face-offs.



Nevitt led the Falcons' offense with three goals, while Meister added two goals and an assist. Also scoring for Air Force were Kuchta and junior Michael Weber (Wantagh, N.Y.). Junior goalkeeper Daniel Bellissimo (Glen Cove, N.Y.) tallied nine saves in his first career start for the Falcons.



For the Buckeyes, Buchanan finished with eight points on four goals and four assists, while Dalgarno added two goals and two assists.



The Falcons wrap up the regular season next Saturday, April 29, when they host league-leading Denver at 12:00 p.m. in Cadet Lacrosse Stadium



Ohio State 11, Air Force 7

Air Force Scoring: Goals: Griffin Nevitt 3, Will Meister 2, Justin Kuchta, Michael Weber. Assists: Kevin Crumrine, Will Meister.

Ohio State Scoring: Goals: Kevin Buchanan 4, Joel Dalgarno 2,Craig Nolan, Andrew Bender, Mat Ballay, Jason Lutz, Jason Bloom. Assists: Kevin Buchanan 4, Joel Dalgarno 2, Justin Doran.



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