Photo Courtesy of Mark Campbell

NEWARK, DE -- Sophomore Martin Cahill (at right) scored his only goal of the game with 2:12 left in the third overtime period and the midst of a driving rainstorm to lift the University of Delaware to an 8-7 win over Albany in a Top 20 men’s lacrosse thriller Saturday afternoon at Rullo Stadium.

Cahill, who scored his 11th goal of the season for the game-winner, took the ball on a fastbreak and fired from 20 yards out on the left side, beating Albany goalkeeper Brett Queener and ending a battle that featured three ties and lasted nearly three hours.

The game was played in a light rain with periods of sun, but the skies opened the wind kicked up over the final 30 seconds of action.

No. 9 ranked Delaware, playing its first game with its highest national ranking this decade, improved to 5-0 for the third straight season and downed the No. 16 Great Danes (0-3) for the fourth time in the last five meetings. The game featured two teams that competed in the NCAA Tournament a year ago when Delaware advanced to the NCAA semifinals and Albany to the second round. The game was the first in UD history to last three overtime periods.

Sophomore Curtis Dickson led the Blue Hens with four goals and an assist while Vincent Giordano added two goals and goalkeeper Tom Scherr came up big in the nets, posting 18 saves. Dickson, who sat out much of the first half after being hit in the head, upped his team-leading goal total to 17 and scored for the 14th straight game.

Albany continued its hard-luck season as the Great Danes remained winless following a season-opening 10-5 loss to defending national champion and top-ranked Johns Hopkins and a last-minute 7-6 setback at Notre Dame last Saturday. Corey Small had three goals and assist for Albany while Brian Grodotzke added three scores, Mike Ammann dished out two assists, and Queener posted nine saves.

Delaware did not trail the entire game but never led by more than two goals during the contest. The Hens scored twice in the opening two minutes to take a 2-0 lead but Albany came back to tie on a goal by Small with 7:20 left in the opening stanza. A Dickson goal gave the Hens another two-goal lead at 4-2, but Small scored again with 44 seconds left in the first period to narrow the margin to one.

Dickson scored twice in the second quarter to give the Hens a 6-4 lead, but a goal by Albany’s Grodotzke with 1:12 left in the half cut the lead to 6-5 at the break. After a scoreless third quarter, Albany tied the game at 6-6 with 11:38 left in regulation on a goal by Derek Dale. Delaware regained the lead at 7-6 with 6:01 left on a tally by J.J. Moran, but Albany sent the game into overtime on a goal by Grodotzke with 3:20 remaining.

Both teams had their opportunities to win the game in sudden-death overtime, but Albany couldn’t convert on five shots in the first extra stanza and on two in the second. Delaware managed just three total shots in the first two extra periods but could not hit the back of the net.

Albany won the faceoff in the third overtime and held the ball for over a minute before calling a timeout. Following the break, Ammann’s shot from the right side was stopped by Scherr just as the heavy rain started. Scherr quickly cleared the ball out and Cahill raced across midfield and down the left side before blasting a shot past Queener from 20 yards out to set off a wild celebration.

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