Mar. 28th, 2004 - Crabtree leads #16 UCSD to victory over Division III M.I.T.
By Woo-Jin Shim
WCLL Correspondent
San Diego, CA – It may have taken him twelve games, but Jared Crabtree looks to be back in top form.
The senior midfielder, who has returned to the Tritons after a two year hiatus, carried an undermanned, but gritty UCSD squad to an incredible comeback victory against the (NCAA) Division III Massachusetts Institute of Technology Engineers, 11-9.
"We were missing a couple of our star midfielders, so I needed to step up and take it to the goal when I had the opportunity," commented Crabtree, who been limited to just four goals and three assists this season. "I got off to a slow start so far, but I was able to step it up today."
With only nineteen players in uniform for the game, the Tritons looked to be facing an uphill battle against an M.I.T. team that recently defeated the No. 9 Oregon Ducks, 14-9.
In the first quarter, UCSD held a 3-1 lead on two goals by attackman Nick Dean. Despite their careless play on offense, the Tritons outplayed the Engineers with their blue-collar style of lacrosse while their zone defense kept MIT's offense at bay for majority of the first fifteen minutes.
But in the second quarter, UCSD's inability to gain quality ball possession on offense finally caught up to them. MIT scored four unanswered goals on a tired Tritons' defense and completely shifted the game's momentum to the Engineers.
Things started to look ugly for UCSD, but it got worse when their starting goalie Matthew Etchepare, suffered a season ending thumb injury with a minute remaining in the first half.
Etchepare finished out the last minute, but gave up two quick goals in a six second span and give the M.I.T. a 5-3 lead into halftime. The Engineers scored on two consecutive fast breaks at with 0:46 and 0:40 remaining the second quarter.
The Engineers continued their assault on the Tritons in the third quarter. Etchepare's replacement Jeff Meier looked helpless as MIT offense continued to slice through the Tritons' defense and scored the first three goals of the second half. Engineers' midfielder Patrick Bossi freed himself through a pick and scored at the 3:35 mark in the quarter to give M.I.T. an 8-4 lead.
UCSD freshman attackman Tim McCall scored on a fast break pass from Dean on a broken clear with 0:32 remaining in the third quarter to cut the Engineers lead to 8-5. But with their offense out of sync and their defense looking overmatched, the Tritons looked to be on path to suffering the same fate as Oregon did on Wednesday.
But in the fourth quarter, the Engineers' defense would have no answers for Crabtree.
The 2002 Pre-season USLIA All American overpowered through his defenders and used his lethal outside shot to single-handedly bring the Tritons back from a four goal deficit. Crabtree's third goals in the final quarter gave the Tritons their first lead since the 10:27 mark in the second quarter. His sixth goal of the game came when he converted a no-look scoop pass from Dean on a beautifully executed fastbreak.
"Before the start of the third quarter, our coach said we needed at least 4 goals and that we all needed to step up," said Dean. "Crabtree took the team on his shoulders and carried us to our win tonight. He's a powerful player who's a big part of our offense."
The Tritons were able to add another insurance goal with 1:32 remaining when Dean dished out his fourth assist of the game to a wide open McCall on another fastbreak opportunity. Meier also rebounded from a poor start and made seven crucial saves in the second half.
"We went up against a good quality team today," commented UCSD head coach John Hughes. "Due to some injuries, we had to make a lot of adjustments to our lineup. But we came in with very specific strategies on defense and offense to keep the ball away from their offense. Then, with us getting down by four goals and Matt (Etchepare) getting injured, we had to move away from the slow tempo offense we were running and start attacking the goal. Our change of pace on offense paid off, especially with the man-up opportunities we received in the fourth quarter."
M.I.T. finishes their annual California spring break trip with a big win over Oregon and a loss against UCSB and UCSD. Engineers' head coach Walter Alessi had nothing but positive comments about his team's trip to California and his team's opponent on Friday night.
"We've been coming out to California since 1986," said Alessi. "It's good for our team to get to play outside while it's snowing back home. Today, we played reasonable well. We got out to a comfortable lead and we just stopped playing. We failed to capitalize on a couple of chances early and it came back to hurt us in the end. UCSD did a great job tonight. They hustled and hustled during their 7-0 run. They played hard and they deserved to win tonight. Hopefully, these exhibition games in California will help get us prepared for the regular reason."
M.I.T.'s junior attackman Tom Hennessey recorded two goals and two assists in a losing effort.
Game Notes: M.I.T is a member of the Pilgrim League in NCAA Division III Men's Lacrosse … Coach Alessi is currently in his twenty-sixth years as the head coach for the Engineers … The Tritons will hit the road to the cactus state for the next two games as they face-off against #6 Arizona on April 3rd and Arizona State on April 4th.
Box Score:
MIT: 1 – 4 – 3 – 1 = 9
UCSD: 3 – 0 – 2 – 6 = 11
MIT Scoring: Hennessey 2g 2a, Stolmeier 2g, Ebeling 2g, Purchase 1g, Bossi 1g, Taylor 1a
UCSD Scoring: Crabtree 6g 1a, Dean 3g 4a, McCall 2g
Saves: MIT 9 (Ng), UCSD 10 (Meier 7, Etchepare 3)
Attendance: 75
Officials: Duggan, Brown, Goldberg