Box Score WHITTIER, CA – Sophomore attack Troy Santise scored at 2:43 of overtime to lift the Vassar men's lacrosse team to a 13-12 victory at Whittier College on Saturday evening. The victory moves the Brewers to 3-2 on the season, while the Poets suffer their first loss of the season and are now 6-1 after seeing their win streak dating back to the 2019 season snapped at nine straight games.

Trailing by a 12-11 margin following a Drew Amirsakis score at 2:01 of the fourth quarter, the Brewers continued to pepper the Poets' goal with six shots – three on goal – in the final 59 seconds. With just one second remaining, senior captain Logan Hyde buried a Santise goal to tie it at 12-all and set up the overtime drama.

Extra session action saw Whittier win the opening face-off, but a quick turnover gave possession to the Brewers. Both teams took their timeouts, but following the Brewers break at 3:16, Vassar headed back out and capitalized as senior captain Connor Deehan passed it to Santise for the game-winning score.

Following an opening quarter that saw the homestanding Poets take a 5-1 lead, the Brewers battled back in the second stanza with four unanswered tallies. Deehan started the run at 13:59, followed late in the frame by back-to-back scores from sophomore Ian Zumpano, along with the game-tying fifth goal of the game from Santise – who assisted on both Zumpano goals.

Late in the second quarter, Vassar goalie Jack Bagin came up huge for the Brewers, stopping a shot by Sergei Jacobs with 49 seconds left to send the squads into halftime locked at a 5-5 score.

Despite that momentum to close out the second frame, it was the Poets that took advantage out of the intermission as Legette scored at the 12:20 mark for the 6-5 margin. Whitter won the ensuing faceoff, taking the ball down into the zone as Legette took a shot that went wide, but 20 seconds later saw Jacobs fire it in, making it a two-goal contest with 11:14 remaining.

The Brewers rebounded at the 8:55 mark as Hyde found junior Riley Olds for Vassar's sixth goal. VC won the next faceoff and went after the Poets net once again. Hyde banked in consecutive shots that went just wide and off the post, followed by a shot on goal from junior captain James Nicholas that was saved by Low at the 7:53 mark.

Whittier took back the momentum once more with Jacobs adding another score at the 5:57 mark of the third, opening back up the two-goal (8-6) edge. Vassar answered once more as rookie Matteo Roman fired one past Low with 4:20 to go in the frame, making it an 8-7 contest.

Despite the Brewers putting seven shots on the score sheet, including three on goal in the final 3:18 of the stanza, the Poets saw Cameron Bentley fire one in with five seconds left, sending the squads into the fourth quarter of action with Whittier up 9-7.

Rookie Shane O'Hara took advantage in the fourth stanza, firing in his first of the game to pull Vassar to within one (9-8) with 12:17 left in the contest. The Brewers tied the game at 10:11 as sophomore Ryan Metz converted a Zumpano feed, but the Poets saw Bentley score 11 seconds later, giving the home team back the 10-9 edge. With his third goal of the game, Zumpano countered the Poets margin, tying the score at 10-all with 8:53 remaining.

Less than a minute out of a Whittier timeout, the Poets capitalized as Dooney buried a feed from Jacobs for the 11-10 lead at 5:35. A shot by Wiley Burkett found its way in with 2:02 to go, giving Whittier the 12-10 lead, but Vassar answered once again as rookie Drew Amirsakis scored a second later off the faceoff win to set up the late drama for the visitors.

Pacing the effort for the Brewers was the sophomore duo of Zumpano and Santise, who combined for five goals and five assists on the night. Zumpano recorded three goals with two assists, adding a ground ball, while Santise dropped in two goals with three assists and a ground ball. Olds had a pair of goals, while Deehan and Hyde both posted a goal and an assist. Junior long stick midfielder Dillon Dierman recorded a game-high nine ground balls with a caused turnover, while classmate Bagin earned the victory in goal with 11 saves.

For Whittier, Legette also had a game-high three goals, while Dooney had two tallies and a helper. Bentley added two goals as Jacobs contributed two tallies and two helpers. Payton Lester added a goal and an assist as Low shouldered the loss in goal with a whopping 23 saves.

Vassar owned a 56-28 advantage in shots for the contest and also owned a 14-of-26 margin on the faceoff. The Brewers were 3-of-8 on the man-up, while the Poets owned the ground balls advantage with a 35-29 margin.

The Brewers return to action on Monday when they play Nichols College in a 1pm (PST) game at Whittier College before they return home to the East Coast.