Alfred and Naz Open 2014 Season
Alfred 20, SUNYIT 4
The Alfred University men's lacrosse team opened its 2014 season with a 20-4 victory over host SUNY IT Saturday afternoon.
The Saxons got four goals and an assist from senior attack
Brett Carroll (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon-St. Jude) and three each from freshman midfielder
Derek Bishop (Livonia, NY/Livonia) (two assists) and senior midfielder
Brendan Sullivan (Stafford, VA/Kiski School) (one assist).
The Saxons jumped out to a 6-2 lead after one quarter and led 13-2 at the half before outscoring the hosts 7-2 after halftime.
Freshman attack
John Winchell (Vestal, NY/Vestal) added two goals and a pair of assists and junior midfielder
Fred Crilly (Rochester, NY/Penfield) had two goals for the Saxons.
AU held a 33-21 edge in groundballs, as freshman midfielder
Jimmy Pratti (Minisink, NY/Minisink Valley) had seven and senior defender
Chris Tauterouff (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua (FLCC)) had five. Tauterouff and senior defender
Felix Perez (New York, NY/Cardinal Hayes) each caused two turnovers to lead the Saxons.
Junior goalie
Cody O'Connor (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) played the first 53:28 in net for the Saxons and made 14 saves while allowing four goals. Freshman
Cody Cornelius (Newark, NY/Newark) finished up with 6:32 of scoreless play in goal, making three saves.
Springfield 11, Nazareth 10
Nazareth tallied five goals in a span of 5:10 to tie Saturday's season-opener with visiting Springfield, 9-9, with 3:59 to play in regulation, but the Pride scored the next two goals to edge the Golden Flyers 11-10 in a non-conference men's lacrosse game.
With the loss, 10th-ranked Nazareth opens the season 0-1 while Springfield improves to 2-0 overall.
The Golden Flyers' furious fourth-quarter rally was started by sophomore
Luke Wooters, who scored after receiving a pass from senior
Brian Wright. Wooters' goal, which was his third of the game, brought Nazareth within 9-5 with 9:09 to play in regulation. About two minutes later, junior
Will Fallo followed with a goal after receiving a pass from sophomore
Troy Haefele, which was followed by an unassisted goal by senior
Chris Aycock 28 seconds later. Aycock's goal trimmed the Golden Flyers' deficit to 9-7 with 6:33 to play. Aycock scored with the man-up, and he also drew a penalty on his goal.
On the ensuing man-up opportunity,
Troy Haefele scored after getting a pass from Wooters. Haefele found the back of the net with 5:35 to play in the quarter. The Golden Flyers tied the game 1:36 later as Wooters scored his fourth goal of the game. Aycock earned the assist on Wooters' goal.
The tie score lasted 60 seconds before Ryon Lynch reclaimed the Pride's lead with an unassisted score. Springfield added an insurance goal with 1:41 to play in regulation.
Junior
Drew Simoneau cut the Golden Flyers' deficit back to one goal 10 seconds later on with an incredible individual effort. Simoneau won the faceoff and maintained control of the ball as he drove through the Pride's defense to Springfield's goal.
Nazareth had offensive opportunities as they looked for the game-tying goal, but the Pride's goalie, Connor Nash, saved a shot by Wright and Wooters in the final 65 seconds. The Golden Flyers also added a pair of off-target shots.
In the first half, Devin Abad put the Pride ahead 1-0 6:53 into the game with an unassisted goal. Wooters matched Abad with an unassisted score from the left side of Springfield's goal. The Pride, however, tallied the next six goals to claim a 7-1 lead with 9:30 to play in the second quarter. Bryce Serriello had three goals, including a man-up score, while Dylan Sheehan added two goals, and Ryan Murphy capped the run with an unassisted goal.
Troy Haefele scored his first goal of the game with 8:02 to play in the half to cut the halftime score to 7-2.
Just 1:14 into the third quarter, Haefele earned the assist on sophomore
Matt O'Neill's man-up goal. Abad and Wooters each scored in the final 5:10 of the period to leave Nazareth trailing 8-4 going into the final quarter. The Pride stretched their lead to five goals with a man-up score 2:07 into the fourth before the Golden Flyers scored their five consecutive goals.
Springfield commited four penalties in the fourth quarter to provide Nazareth with several man-up chances. The Golden Flyers finished 2-4 with the man-up in the period, but Nazareth was only 1-6 on their opportunities in the opening 45 minutes. Springfield, meanwhile, was 2-3 with the man-up over the course of the game.
Nazareth held a 58-22 advantage in total shots, including a 36-5 advantage in the second half. The Golden Flyers also had an advantage in ground balls (39-15) and faceoffs won (18-7). Simoneau won 18 of 25 faceoffs for Nazareth, and he was 16-19 over the final three quarters. Simoneau also collected a game-high 16 ground balls.
Nash finished with a game-high 18 saves for Springfield to earn the victory. Nazareth goalie sophomore
Scott Brown was credited with four saves.