Men's Lacrosse Moves To 4-0 With Thrilling OT Win Over Monmouth

Published: Wednesday, February 21, 2024

There seems to be something special brewing in Newark. In a meeting of in-state rivals, the NJIT men's lacrosse team rallied from four goals down in the third quarter and three down in the fourth to beat the Monmouth Hawks, 14-13, in overtime Wednesday evening at Lubetkin Field at Mal Simon Stadium.

HIGHLANDER LEADERS
Sophomore Ryan Sininsky capped off a career day with the game-winning goal in overtime that kept the Highlanders undefeated (4-0) and still off to the best start in the program's ten-year history. Sininsky scored a hat trick and had a game-high three assists to lead all players with six total points. Jack Bowie led all goal scorers with a career-best five, Owen Corry added two scores, and Jesse Roth, Arthur Miller, Hank Bethel and Brandon Wasitowski each had one. 

Garrett Muscatella matched Sininsky's assist tally with three of his own, Roth helped out on two, and Corry and Myles Hickey logged one apiece.

Billy Kroeger recorded a game-high 12 ground balls and also went 17-31 on faceoffs and caused one turnover. Bethel tacked on two CTOs and two ground balls to his goal.

Liam Brown made 13 saves in his second-longest collegiate game (62:06), pushing him across the 600-save barrier for his career (611 saves after tonight).

1ST QUARTER

  • NJIT conceded the first goal of the contest (11:12) but bounced back with a three-goal flurry to take a 3-1 lead. Bowie (from Muscatella, 6:22) and Roth (from R. Sininsky, 5:15) converted on assists and Sininsky took matters into his own hands with the unassisted third score.
  • Monmouth would claw one back with under a minute left but the Highlanders would retain the lead after 15 minutes, 3-2.

2ND QUARTER

  • Monmouth would add three more goals (11:16, 9:48, 7:07) to its late first quarter score to turn NJIT's two-goal lead into its own two-score advantage, 5-3, halfway through the period.
  • Two assisted Jack Bowie goals - from Muscatella at 1:40 and from Corry with 40 seconds left - tied the game at 5-5.
  • Monmouth successfully scored from the ensuing faceoff and took a narrow 6-5 lead into the locker room.

3RD QUARTER

  • The second half began with Monmouth scoring a pair of goals within the first 2:30 to take a 8-5 lead.
  • Corry scored his first of the night off a dish from Roth (11:35) but two more Hawks goals gave the visitors the largest lead of the game for either team, 10-6, with 5:46 remaining in the quarter.
  • The Highlanders would score three of the final four goals (Wasitowski from Muscatella, 4:38; Corry from Roth, 4:38; Bowie from R. Sininsky, 00:04) to trim their deficit to two heading into the fourth, 11-9

4TH QUARTER

  • Monmouth scored two of the first three goals in the final frame, forcing NJIT to stare down a 13-10 deficit with only 7:09 to go in the game. The Highlanders didn't flinch, scoring the final three goals of regulation to send the game to overtime.
  • Hickey set up Bowie less than 30 seconds after Monmouth's last goal (6:48) to start the comeback.
  • Miller added to his season total with his 11th goal off a Sininsky assist to get back within two, 13-11.
  • Brown made a save with 2:47 on the clock, found Bethel on an outlet pass, and the Bucknell transfer tied the game at 13-13 himself with his first score as a Highlander.
  • Monmouth drew a 30-second penalty on the Highlanders with 35 seconds left but Brown was able to make a save to keep the game even.
  • Keegan Ford had a chance to repeat his game winning theatrics from last season's victory over Lindenwood but couldn't convert on his final shot.

OVERTIME

  • Monmouth found themselves with the ball first off the opening faceoff but were forced into a turnover by Josh Failla.
  • After successfully clearing the ball and patiently setting up the offense, the ball found its way to Sininsky, who zipped past two defenders from the left side of the field to the right and scored the winner while diving forward at goal.

OTHER NOTES

  • Ryan Sininsky has recorded two hat tricks in his two years at NJIT, and both times they were secured with overtime game-winners that set the program's record for wins in a season: at UMass Lowell on April 29, 2023 (third win of 2023) and tonight (fourth win of 2024).
  • Hank Bethel's goal was the second of his career and first since April 17, 2022 in a Bucknell win over Holy Cross.
  • Prior to this year, the last time there were two games where a Highlander scored five or more goals was in 2019, when NJIT all-time leading scorer Aaron Forster netted nine goals against Quinnipiac (Mar. 2) and seven at Hampton (Apr. 6). After today, it has happened three times by three different players - Arthur Miller (at St. John's), Garrett Muscatella (vs Siena), and Jack Bowie (vs Monmouth)
  • Tonight's win was just the second all-time for NJIT over Monmouth and first since March 5, 2019 in Newark.
  • NJIT is now 3-2 all-time in overtime games after winning their last three over the last two seasons (including the 2023 season finale at UMass Lowell on Apr. 29).
  • Dating back to that UMass Lowell victory in 2023, NJIT has now won five straight games as a program for the first time ever. The active five-game winning streak is the second longest in the country, behind Notre Dame (seven straight).
  • Wednesday's win was also: NJIT's fifth ever when trailing after three quarters; the 14th win in program history; the fourth-ever one-goal win and sixth by two or fewer; and the program's seventh-ever home win, giving NJIT an even split between its program wins (7 at home, 7 on road).
  • In a sign that the program is finally turning the corner after years of hard work: NJIT is 7-10 in its last 17 games after going 7-97 in the 104 games and eight seasons prior.