Joe Walters (left) and Xander Ritz were major parts in the Terps’ comeback, but it didn’t matter. “We weren’t ready for them and took them lightly,” Walters said.

Bucknell men’s lacrosse coach Frank Fedorjaka stood in the middle of his team’s huddle in overtime and looked around at his players, who had taken the No. 1-ranked Terrapins beyond regulation.

He saw their smiles and excitement in their eyes and tried to inspire them.

“I got a feeling, baby,” he said, right before breaking the huddle.

That feeling turned out to be right when, with nine seconds left in the second overtime, Bison attackman Joe Mele decked around the Terp defense and beat goalkeeper Harry Alford to give Bucknell the 7-6 victory over the top team in the nation last night at the Terrapin Field Hockey and Lacrosse Complex.

“If you could have told us at dinner that we’d be tied 6-6, we’d take it,” Fedorjaka said. “From there, we just figured every second that went by it was to our advantage.”

After shaking hands with the Bison, the Terps bolted for their bus back to the Varsity Team House, where coach Dave Cottle said they talked about straightening some things out following their first loss of the season.

Cottle said his team got tighter as the game progressed, and echoed the sentiments of some of his players that they needed to play better in practice.

Even after Saturday’s win over Towson, the Terps discussed not looking past the unranked Bison. Still, senior attackman Joe Walters chalked it up to a lack of preparation.

“We weren’t ready for them and took them lightly,” Walters said.

Alford made 14 saves, but didn’t have to make a save for over 20 minutes before the second overtime.

Cottle said his team didn’t handle success very well. The Terps are the top team in the nation for the first time since 2004 and were only on top of the polls for two weeks.

“Being No. 1, we definitely got content with that,” Alford said. “We got too lax about it.”

Those feelings may have contributed to the Terps not beginning the game with the same energy they showed in their last overtime game, March 4, against Duke.

The Terps took a 1-0 lead on a Walters goal with just over 10 minutes left in the first quarter and never led after Bucknell tied it six minutes later.

Bucknell (2-3) stunned the Terp faithful, taking them out of the game while controlling the game’s pace and holding the ball out for extended periods of time. By the end of the third quarter, the Bison held a 6-3 lead.

Cottle said his team never got up for the game early and tried to shoot its way out of that hole.

“I don’t think it was from lack of effort, I think it was from lack of execution,” Cottle said. “I don’t think we shot smart.”

Despite being tight, the Terps rallied. After Brendan Healy and Bill McGlone got them started with fourth quarter goals, senior midfielder Xander Ritz tied the game with just under five minutes left in regulation, triggering the crowd’s roaring applause.

The tightness returned and the Terps couldn’t regain the lead despite getting off 14 fourth-quarter shots. That theme continued into the first overtime, when the Terps outshot Bucknell 5-0 but couldn’t get it past goalie Matt Baran, who made 14 saves.

But it was freshman Mele who took over the game offensively for Bucknell while recording a hat trick, including the game winner.

“I didn’t want to be the one to let my team down,” Mele said. “Once I saw that we came out strong and we were going to run with these guys all day, I just figured I’d go hard for it.”

After the game, the Terps spent almost a half hour in the locker room talking about the problems they needed to fix. Alford said the Bison weren’t bigger, but they had more heart than he and his teammates did.

Cottle said his charge would be to ensure the Terps don’t let one loss affect their upcoming games. He assumed responsibility for fixing the problems and said that may happen on the practice fields after losing a winnable game.

“We haven’t practiced that well since the Duke game and unfortunately maybe we needed a loss to recognize that,” Cottle said. “This is a game we shouldn’t have lost.”

Contact reporter Stephen Whyno at whynodbk@gmail.com.