Dan Leventhal scored five goals, and Hank Altschuler played a stellar game between the pipes, as the Israeli men's national lacrosse team topped No. 9 Ireland 12-11 at Amsterdam Bos late Tuesday night.
The win improves Israel to 3-2 in exhibition play. It was also Israel's first against a ranked team in three attempts this past week.
Israel raced out to 2-0, 4-2 and 6-4 leads, but Ireland answered the bell each time, staying within striking distance as it stifled the Israeli offense for the last 13 minutes of the first half. Ireland tied the game at 6-6 with a goal, with 10 seconds remaining in the half.
Max Weisenberg opened the scoring in the second half, and Leventhal scored twice to put Israel up 9-6, but Ireland answered back again, scoring four straight to go up 10-9, its first lead of the game.
However, the blue and white seized the momentum as Leventhal, Matt Cherry and Noah Miller scored consecutive fourth-quarter goals to take a 12-10 advantage. Ireland cut the lead to one goal, but Miller's goal would stand as the game-winner, as Israel was able to run out the clock, securing the biggest win in the young history of the program.
Miller finished with two goals and an assist. Mike Grosz, Ben Barocas and Richard Cheifitz added singles. Leventhal and Cherry each added an assist to their respective tallies. Altschuler earned the win in goal, playing the full 80 minutes.
