LEXINGTON, Va.- The Keydets sat tied with the No. 12 Army Black Knights at 2-2 16 minutes into the contest, but Army went on a 4-0 run to close the half with a 6-2 lead and never looked back, taking the 12-6 win in VMI's home opener Sat., Feb. 19 at Foster Stadium. Junior Keith Long and sophomore Russell East had two scores apiece for the Keydets, while Army's Jeremy Boltus had two goals and four assists in the win for the Black Knights.
After a slow start to the contest, Army (1-1) struck first with 9:26 left in the first quarter on a man-up opportunity, as Garrett Thul score on a John Adair assist to give Army the 1-0 lead. An Alex Van Krevel goal less than 30 seconds later stretched the Black Knight advantage to 2-0, but with 1:16 remaining in the opening quarter, Long cut the Army advantage in half with his third goal of the season with 1:16 remaining.
At the 13:38 mark of quarter number two, East scored his first goal of the day to tie the game at 2-2, but it was the closest the Keydets (1-2) would come to taking the lead, as a pair of Van Krevel goals as well as a tally by Boltus, Conor Hayes, Matt Hurley and John Adair built Army's advantage to 8-2 midway through the third quarter.
Long's second score of the day with 8:48 left in the third halted the Army run to bring the score to 8-3, but the Black Knights answered right back with scores from Andrew Boyd and another from the All-American, Boltus, to stretch the advantage to 10-3. A score by VMI junior attackman Drew Leonard with 55 seconds left in the third frame brought the score to 10-4 in the waning moments of the third, but Army's Tyler Kamide added a goal with only five seconds left in the quarter, as Army took an 11-4 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Keydets didn't go down without a fight in the final frame, outscoring Army 2-1 in the final 15 minutes of action. Conor Hayes notched his second score of the day with 5:47 left in the game, but VMI answered late with a pair of goals involving freshman attackman Tim Boersig. With 4:58 left, Boersig found a cutting East for his second score of the day, and later scored a goal of his own with 4:15 left on an assist from Long, who now leads the team with six helpers on the season.
The Black Knights held a substantial shot advantage on the afternoon, outshooting VMI 45-25. Junior goalie Kelly McMinn went the distance in the cage for VMI, making a career-high 18 saves, which puts in second all-time in VMI history for saves in a game, as he eclipsed his career-high of 16 against Jacksonville on Feb. 27 of last season.
The Keydets won the groundball and faceoff category, as the Keydets held a 21-17 advantage in groundballs and won 12-of-22 faceoffs. Junior midfielder Stephen Robarge led the charge in both categories with eight groundballs and was 12-for-19 in the faceoff X.
For Army, Thul had a game-high 13 shots, seven of which were on frame. Faceoff specialist Derek Sipperly led the team with nine groundballs, while goalie Tom Palesky made six stops in his first win of the season.
The Keydets return to action Monday, Feb. 28 taking on No. 2 Virginia from Klockner Stadium in Charlottesville. Game time is set for 7 p.m., and live stats will available via VMIKeydets.com.
