Trailing Yale by four goals midway through the second quarter, Army “close” defenseman John Sullivan was called upon to take a different role.
A senior, preseason, all-Patriot League defensive player who has started all four years for the Black Knights, Sullivan was moved up to the midfield to guard the Bulldogs best player and find a way to stop the Yale offensive scheme. Yale was humming along, creating all kinds of trouble for Army.
It worked like a charm.
Sullivan shut down the Bulldog attackman and No. 11 Army shut out the visiting Bulldogs for the last 36 minutes of the game at Michie Stadium Saturday to post an impressive 12-6 non-conference victory and move to 3-0 on the season.
“I want to help anyway I can,” said Sullivan. “The coaches asked me to move up to help with the wings and maybe come up with ground balls and guard that one player.
“Everyone here wants to do whatever we can to make this team successful. I was really happy to contribute in that way today.”
That was not all Sullivan did. Already the anchor of the stingy Army defense, Sullivan displayed some offensive fireworks. First, Sullivan assisted on a first-half goal. Then, midway through the third quarter, Sullivan picked up a groundball and scored his first goal in his Army career to move the Black Knights ahead, 7-6.
“It was a pretty good feeling for me,” Sullivan said. “My teammates boxed out around me to allow me to get the groundball and then I ran down the field and just got lucky with that (shot). (Attacker) Gunnar Fellows gave me the green light to take the shot and that gave me a lot of confidence to try it.”
Sullivan, one of only two players (AJ Pilate, who graduated last May was the other one) to start all four years as a close defenseman for Army in coach Joe Alberici’s 21 years as the Black Knights head coach, was not the only star on Saturday, especially in the second half. Faceoff specialists Rob Simone and Caleb Caldwell, won eight of 12 faceoffs in the half and senior goalie Sean Byrne stopped all six shots he faced in the half.
Plus, for the second week in a row, both the Army offense and defense came out of the locker room a different team. Much like the Black Knights did against host Rutgers last Saturday, Army dominated all aspects of the game in the second half, limiting Yale’s possessions and shots on goal and making good on their own chances. The result was the nine unanswered goals in the second half, seven of them in the space of about 10 minutes in the third quarter, by six different players, that left Yale stunned and the Black Knights in full command of the contest.
The third-quarter and second-half stats showed just how dominating the Black Knights were in the latter part of the game. While managing just six shots on net in the first half, Army took 10, and converted nine, in the third quarter alone. Army also dominated ground ball possessions, 10-6, in the quarter and won five of eight faceoffs during the 15-minute period.
Meanwhile, the Army defense, which did not play poorly in the first half, simply shined during the second half, forcing eight turnovers and limiting Yale to just six shots on goal.
“I don’t know if I have ever seen a game like this before, where a team just puts it all together, scores 10 straight goals and takes command of the contest like we did today,” said Army coach Joe Alberici, who noted that the Black Knights have outscored opponents, 21-5, in the second half this season. “We played extremely well in so many aspects of the game in the second half. It was definitely the best 30 or so minutes of lacrosse I have seen us play this year.
Alberici added, “Yes, we made some adjustments at halftime, but it was really the fact that the team had such good poise, played great defense, executed offensively and Sean was his usual best-goalie-in-nation self in the net that made the difference. In the first half, we did not put much pressure on their goal. We started to play with a little more speed in the second half and that made a big difference.”
Playing its first game of the season, due to Ivy League rules that limit practices and delays the start of the season, Yale got off the bus from New Haven, Conn. ready to play and determined to prove that its 5-8 record including a loss to Army at the Yale Bowl last year were distant memories.
It seemed to work for a while. Using a methodical offensive strategy that focused on ball control and high-percentage shot attempts, the Bulldogs not only grabbed a 6-2 lead midway through the second quarter but had the Black Knights on their collective heels and searching for answers.
Besides the steady play of the defense thus far this season, Alberici has to be excited with the number of contributors on the offense. Against Yale, seven players scored, including sophomore Brayden Fountain with three goals and senior captain Evan Plunkett (four assists) and his younger brother, Hill, a sophomore with two goals each. Fellows also had two goals for the Black Knights while sophomores Aiden Weisenborn and Tyler Clark had one goal each.
With Michigan on the horizon next Sunday in a game to be played in Atlanta, Sullivan is aware that the Army defense must continue its impressive play.
“On one hand, we are a young defense that is still trying to figure things out,” he said. “But, we learned a lot from AJ Pilate over the last few years and we have guys like Sean in net, Keegan Tracey and CJ Monturio who are making a difference for us. We are young and we are growing our identity and working hard every day to be better and better. I think our team defense helped us come up with a win today.”
