AMHERST — Everything was set up perfectly for the fairytale ending.
On a day when UMass was honoring its 2006 men’s lacrosse team, whose most memorable win was coming from behind to beat Hofstra in overtime to advance to the NCAA Final Four, the current Minutemen found themselves in slightly similar circumstances, Saturday.
The Final Four wasn’t on the line, but to keep their chances of a berth to the CAA Tournament alive, the 2016 squad came from behind to force overtime against Hofstra. Buddy Carr’s goal for UMass with 23 seconds left in regulation set the stage for a dramatic extra session.
But real life and the Pride ruined the ending. A miscommunication on defense allowed Brendan Kavanagh to get free behind the UMass net. He cycled left to right and then tucked the ball past goalie Sean Sconone to break UMass’ heart, 10-9, with 14 seconds left in the first sudden-death overtime at Garber Field.
“We’ve been on a roller coaster all year long,” UMass coach Greg Cannella said. “It’s our second overtime loss. So it stings.”
Senior defenseman Kyle Karaska took the defeat hard.
“I don’t know that you ever shake off something like that,” he said. “That’s our last game on that field as seniors. We’ll take that for the rest of our lives. It won’t go away.”
The loss eliminated UMass (4-8, 0-4 CAA) from contending for the conference tournament. The Minutemen, who have lost four straight, will complete the season, Friday at Drexel at 6 p.m.
“It’s been very tough, very frustrating,” Cannella said. “You try to rethink everything that you do in terms or practice and preparation. … You can second guess yourself to forever.”
Faceoff specialist Noah Rak boosted the Minutemen out of the gate. He won the opening faceoff and bulled his way through the Pride defense and scored 6 seconds into the game. He won the ensuing draw and took a similar path toward the net, drawing extra defenders. The increased attention opened up Brendan Hegarty to the left of the net. Rak fed him on the break and Hegarty scored his first of three goals eight seconds later.
The longtime rivals went back and forth after, trading mini runs with neither team leading by more than two at any point in the game.
UMass led 8-7 after the third quarter and missed some chances early in the fourth to take control. The officials missed Hofstra with too many players on the field that would have given the Minutemen a two-man advantage, and Gianni Bianchin’s shot hit the cross bar, four minutes into the period.
Instead, Hofstra took advantage of two failed clears and four turnovers by UMass in the fourth and scored back-to-back goals to lead 9-8 with 3:30 remaining. Further blocking the Minutemen’s path was a one-minute slashing penalty with 2:40 left.
But UMass got the ball back with 1:49 left and the Minutemen called timeout with 59 seconds remaining.
Despite the dwindling clock, they stayed patient looking for an opening until Carr got the ball on the right wing side. He wheeled toward the net and fired the ball past Jack Concannon (12 saves) with 23 seconds left.
“It was a big goal,” Cannella said. “That was a big play for our guys to make.”
Hofstra won the faceoff to open overtime, but Josh Byrne (two goals) was thwarted by Sconone (13 saves).
Karaska forced a turnover, but the Minutemen never got a shot off as freshman Ben Spencer lost the ball with 36 seconds left, setting up Kavanagh’s winner.
“I thought we had it. We got the stop on defense early in overtime and got the ball back,” Carr said. “I thought we were going to get one right there, but unfortunately, we weren’t able to.”
Cannella thought his younger players struggled in pressure moments.
“We had our chance in overtime,” Cannella said. “We had a freshman handling the ball. Maybe it’s too big of a scene for him at that point.”
Karaska was one of four seniors honored before the game, including fellow close defensemen Bob Fahey and Kevin Porzelt, and defensive midfielder Kurt Hunziker.
Matt Vautour can be reached at mvautour@gazettenet.com. Get UMass coverage delivered in your Facebook news feed at www.facebook.com/GazetteUMassCoverage