POUGHKEEPSIE – Oftentimes, the term Most Valuable Player comes with scintillating highlights and lighting up the scoreboard.
Sometimes, though, the one denying the crowd those thunderous moments is truly the most valuable around. Marist men’s lacrosse goalkeeper Richie Metzger has been that for the Red Foxes this postseason.
Coming off an MVP nod in the MAAC conference tournament the week prior, Metzger continued his stellar play in Marist’s 10-6 win over CAA-winning Stony Brook in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament on home turf on Wednesday night.
“We’ve seen stuff like that at practice, he comes to work every day and he doesn’t approach this like a freshman at all. He’s a very mature person,” Marist head coach Dave Scarcello said after the win. “He’s earned every bit of this success so far.”
Coming into the night allowing just over 10 goals per game with a .519 save percentage, the true freshman goalie gave a premier performance to cap off his first year at Tenney Stadium. Metzger finished with nine saves – five in the fourth quarter – and a .600 save percentage in the win.
To his advantage, he played with a lead for nearly the entire night because of a quick offensive attack spearheaded by Peter Murray. The senior attacker finished with four goals and an assist on the night, three coming in the first half to help Marist stay in front early. Playing in his final game at home, this one meant everything to him.
“Funny enough, I told Collin [Patrick] that this is one of the best nights I’ve ever had in my life,” Murray said, unable to hide a giant smile. “I think it’s because of how much work we’ve put in … this group was really bought in and we still are bought in.”
Collin Patrick also finished with four goals and an assist for Marist to supplement the offensive effort.
Stony Brook cut the lead down to 4-3 with a goal within the first minute of the second half before the Red Foxes stunned the Seawolves with two goals in the span of six seconds. Scores by Steven Cain and Patrick opened up a three-goal cushion with just over 10 minutes left in the third quarter.
“We take some punches and those guys deliver it right back. I think one of the things this group has talked about, especially our senior leadership group, was making sure to maintain the emotions through the highs-and-lows. That’s what you’ve seen on the field from them this year,” Scarcello said. “They’ve been able to handle those punches and they continue to respond.”
The Seawolves’ Collin Williamson carried nearly all of his team’s offense, scoring two of his five goals shortly after to make it a 6-5 contest heading into the fourth quarter.
Murray assisted on and then scored on the first two goals of the fourth quarter to push it back to a three-goal lead at the time, one the Red Foxes didn’t relinquish.
Next on the schedule is the toughest test in the country. Moving on to the first round of the tournament, Marist is set to travel to and go up against No. 1 seed Princeton with a 2:30 p.m. start time on Sunday, May 10.
“We’re going to dive into them tonight, the guys know that and we’re going to get back to work tomorrow,” Scarcello said. “We have a massive task in front of us against an unbelievable team but we have to have the same mentality that we had tonight and these guys have to continue to rally around each other.”
This article originally appeared on Poughkeepsie Journal: Metzger and Murray guide Marist to next round in NCAA Tournament
Reporting by Eric Decker, Poughkeepsie Journal / Poughkeepsie Journal
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
