More than half a year later, Mike McDonald still doesn't know if his winning goal in the NCAA Division II men's lacrosse championship match was happy accident or stellar decision.
McDonald scored with one second left to give Le Moyne a 6-5 victory over Mercyhurst College in the Lakers' first trip to the title match. He recounted the final few seconds of the match in an online Q&A with Jac Coyne of Lacrosse Magazine.
Q: When you had the ball with seven seconds left in the championship game, did you know what you were going to do when the whistle blew or were you freelancing? Was there a plan?
A: Yes and no. I knew I was going to get the ball and I was basically going to get a running start to go right to the goal. I didn't know exactly what (Mercyhurst) was going to do because the whole game they had been sliding really quickly and we weren't sure what they were going to do. We had seen them slide quick, slide slow and sometimes not at all. But earlier in the day they had slid quick and made us work for the goals off-ball.
I knew I was going to get a good run at my defenseman and try to get topside. I was on the left side, so I was going to my left hand, which is not my strong hand. But I knew I wanted to get topside and maybe draw a slide and look to the crease. It happened to work out although it may not have been pretty. There was nothing scripted there. I was just trying to get to the goal and caught a break.
Q: Was there any chance you were passing that ball?
A: Oh, yeah, there was. People always ask me, Was it a pass or was it shot? It's hard to even tell because it happened so quickly. The restart, then going to the cage. I mean, your first instinct is you just go and if you get an open shot, take it. I was expecting a slide and I was going to pass it, but I realized they weren't sliding. Time was running down and I just looked to pass, and then I looked to shoot and I kind of got caught between the two. It was kind of like a pass-shot.
I don't know what was going through my head. And it really doesn't matter because it went in.
For the full Q&A, visit http://laxmagazine.cstv.com