Yale's Matt Brandau Closes in on Ivy League Scoring Record

Matt Brandau’s storybook senior season added another chapter in Yale’s 17-10 victory over UAlbany on Friday night.

Brandau had a first-half hat trick and then dished out five assists in the second half to give him 353 career points – just one away from tying former Cornell star and three-time USA player Rob Pannell for the Ivy League record.

Brandau has 94 points (41g, 53a) in just 13 games this season, leading the country with an average of 7.23 points per game. He’s scored at least eight points in four straight games and did his damage on Friday night despite having Albany’s star LSM Jake Piseno matched up with him for most of the game.

Yale coach Andy Shay said he told Piseno after the game that he watched the UAlbany-Virginia game earlier this season and thought Piseno was the best player on the field. That’s a feeling many others felt after that performance, making Brandau’s latest gem even more impressive.

“I think Matt’s the best player in the country,” Shay said. “I know a lot of people are debating it. What he’s done for our team with the injuries we’ve had, I don’t know of anybody else that could have done it that I’ve coached, or I think nationally.”

Yale hardly ran away with things despite the final score.

The game was tied 6-6 at the half and that’s with UAlbany committing 12 first-half turnovers, failing on five clears and not converting after a two-minute non-releasable penalty by Yale late in the half.

After Yale scored first in the second half, the Great Danes got back-to-back goals by Alex Pfeiffer and Ryan Doherty just 54 seconds apart to take an 8-7 lead with 12:55 left in the third quarter.

Yale answered with three straight goals before UAlbany’s Graydon Hogg scored midway through the third quarter to cut the Bulldogs lead to 10-9. That was all she wrote for UAlbany as Yale then ripped off the next six goals. Johnny Keib and Carson Kuhl each had two goals during the run and Brandau assisted three of the scores.

UAlbany’s Regan Andres won 17 of 28 faceoffs as Yale played without star specialist Machado Rodriguez for the second straight game.

Brandau, Keib and Kuhl all had hat tricks for Yale. Jared Paquette started in goal and made four first-half saves while allowing six goals. Hugh Conrad played the second for Yale and made seven saves while allowing four goals.

Doherty, Hogg and Jackson Palumb all had two goals for UAlbany and Landon Whitney made 16 saves.

Army, Loyola Move Up in Patriot League

The six-way tie for the top of the Patriot League is beginning to break up with Army and Loyola taking the lead with 5-2 records. Boston University and Lehigh, both at 4-2, meet tomorrow which will result in one of them moving into a tie at the top. Colgate, also 4-2 in the league, can keep pace with a win at Holy Cross tomorrow.

Army scored the first four goals of the game and cruised to a 19-11 victory at Bucknell. Reese Burek scored the first two and finished the game with five goals to go along with an assist. Jackson Eicher also had six points (4g, 2a) and Evan Plunkett had a goal and four assists.

Connor Davis led Bucknell with four goals and Sean Berrigan had a hat trick. The Bison had assists on nine of their 11 goals.

The victory was Army’s fourth straight in the series against Bucknell and the Black Knights (10-2) have now won at least 10 games in three straight seasons.

Loyola continued its dramatic turnaround with a 12-10 victory at Navy. After opening the season with a win over Georgetown, the Greyhounds dropped six of their next seven games, but have bounced back with five straight wins – all in league play.

Playing with Loyola alum and current NBA player Pat Spencer in attendance, the Greyhounds never trailed as the starting attack of Evan James, Matthew Minicus, Adam Poitras combined for eight goals and three assists.

Back-to-back goals by Poitras as part of a three-goal run in the first quarter gave Loyola a 4-1 lead. Navy pulled to within a goal twice, once late in the second quarter and once early in the third quarter, but could get no closer.

Luke Staudt made 12 saves for Loyola while Navy was led by Jon Jarosz with four goals. Dan Daly made 12 saves for Navy.

Loyola will host Army next Friday night in a nationally-televised game on CBS Sports Network.

Penn State Locks Up No. 3 Spot in Big Ten

Jack Fracyon made 14 saves and Penn State’s big guns of TJ Malone and Matt Traynor each scored four goals as the Nittany Lions beat Rutgers 15-9. Penn State finishes alone in third place in the Big Ten with a 3-2 mark in league play and will be the No. 3 seed for the conference tourney.

The Nittany Lions will host the No. 6 seed next Saturday in the first round of the Big Ten tourney. If Michigan beats Ohio State tomorrow, then Rutgers will be the No. 6 seed. If Ohio State beats Michigan, then Michigan will be the No. 6 seed.

Lafayette Gets to .500

Lafayette used a seven-goal third quarter to help propel itself to a 14-10 victory over Le Moyne. The victory evens Lafayette’s record at 6-6 for the season. With the Leopards eliminated from a shot at qualifying for the Patriot League tournament, a victory at home against rival Lehigh next Friday night would give Lafayette its first winning season since the 2010 team went 8-6.

On Friday, Liam Sargent paced Lafayette with a four-goal effort and Charlie Cunniffe and John Mathes each had hat tricks. Evan Prince won 19 of 27 faceoffs.