Tough Day for Men's Lax
RIT 15, Ithaca 11
The 15th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team (1-1) put up a fight against top-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology (2-0), but the Tigers outscored Ithaca 9-5 in the second half to claim a 15-11 victory Saturday at RIT's Turf Field.
Senior
Pat Slawta tallied a career- and game-high six goals and classmate
Jake Long (Fort Washington, Pa./Upper Dublin) added a hat trick to lead the Bombers. Sophomore
Eli Gobrecht (Ithaca, N.Y./Ithaca) and junior
Jimmy Ryan (Chevy Chase, Md./The Hill School) collected four ground balls each, while Gobrecht added a pair of caused turnovers. Senior
Brandon Henne (Port Washington, N.Y./Port Washington) was 8-of-19 in faceoffs. Sophomore
Scott Sidnam (Camillus, N.Y./West Genesee) made 11 stops in goal for the Blue & Gold.
The squads went goal-for-goal over the first two periods, ending the first at 5-5 and entering the half deadlocked at 6-6. Slawta netted the first goal of the game at 12:29, RIT answered at the 11-minute mark and tallied the go-ahead goal at 10:24. Long evened action at 8:50, 2-2, and
Michael Walker (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial) reclaimed Ithaca the advantage at 4:42. Both scores were assisted by senior
Ryan Burns (Bradenton, Fla./Lakewood Ranch). The Tigers recorded the next two goals, but Slawta answered with two of his own for a 5-4 edge at 1:07. RIT leveled out the scoring at 5-5 to finalize the first.
Scoring slowed in the second, with each team netting just one goal apiece. Ten scoreless minutes ticked off the clock before Slawta scored his fourth at 4:15. Three minutes later, the Tigers beat Sidnam for a 6-6 stalemate at intermission.
The Tigers dominated the third period, outscoring Ithaca, 5-1. RIT registered four consecutive goals before Long snapped Ithaca's scoring drought with its lone goal of the third at 1:41. RIT won the ensuing faceoff and marched down field to end the third with an 11-7 gap.
RIT increased its advantage to 13-7 at 11:17 of the fourth. Slawta and Long exchanged a pair of goals with the Tigers for a 15-9 game at 4:44. Slawta and rookie
John Januszkiewicz (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park) put two more in the back of the net before the end of regulation to finalize all scoring at 15-11.
Despite having lost six straight to the Tigers, the Bombers own a 29-22 edge in the series history dating back to 1967.
Brockport 14, Alfred 8
The Alfred University men's lacrosse team suffered a 14-8 loss to Brockport State, on the road Saturday afternoon.
Brockport led 7-6 at halftime and outscored the Saxons 7-2 in the final two quarters. Freshman midfielder
Nick Skibitsky (Buffalo, NY/Williamsville East) and freshman attacker
John Winchell (Vestal, NY/Vestal) led Alfred with two goals apiece.
Senior midfielder
Brendan Sullivan (Stafford, VA/Kiski School), freshman midfielder
Matt Zandri (Baldwinsville, NY/Baldwinsville), junior attacker
Nicolas Wood(Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua), and senior defender
Pat Walsh (Buffalo, NY/Bishop Timon-St. Jude) each scored a goal.
Freshman midfielder
Jimmy Pratti (Minisink, NY/Minisink Valley) picked up a team-best six groundballs.
Junior goalie
Cody O'Connor (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) had 13 saves in 56:58 minutes of play, before junior
Tyler Beyor (Carthage, NY/Carthage) took over for the rest of the contest.
Springfield 14, Stevens 10
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team dropped a tough battle with Springfield College, 14-10, on Saturday afternoon at the De Baun Athletic Complex to fall to 1-2 on the season. Springfield is now 3-0 early on in 2014.
The Ducks opened the contest with two straight goals in the first five minutes from sophomore
Michael Serrante and senior
Charlie Cronin. Serrante netted the game's first score just 2:27 in off a pass from sophomore Michael Ferentini. Cronin then put Stevens up, 2-0, on an unassisted man-up tally at the 9:58 mark.
Springfield then ran off four consecutive goals in the first period over a 3:44 span to close out the first period with a 4-2 lead. Dylan Sheehan put away the Pride's goal at 9:03 and then Kevin Freeman knotted the action at 2-2 just 1:03 later. Sheehan gave Springfield its first lead at the 5:29 mark, and just 10 seconds later, Ryon Lynch capped off the first quarter run.
As the second period got underway, Tony LaGuerre gave the Pride a three-goal edge just 2:29 into the frame. Sophomore
Andrew Scrutchfield (Lewes, Del.) scored Stevens' second man-up goal in the showdown nearly two minutes later to bring the Ducks back to within two, 5-3. Bryce Serriello put Springfield back up by three on his first of a game-high four goals at the just under five minutes into the second quarter. Scrutchfield then found junior
Michael Maroon (Virginia Beach, Va.) for his first goal of a hat trick performance with 7:53 remaining which made the score, 6-4, in favor of Springfield. The Pride once again build a three-goal lead at the 5:55 mark on Lynch's second goal, but 40 seconds later, Ferentini ended the offense for both sides with his lone goal to make it a 7-5 contest heading into halftime.
Springfield seemed poised to pull away in the third quarter with three straight scores over the first 11 minutes of the quarter. Now trailing 10-5 with 4:08 on the clock, sophomore
Brett Incollingo (Yardley, Pa.) won the ensuing face-off, picked up the groundball and netted his first goal of the season just five seconds after Springfield scored. Maroon cut the Ducks' deficit back to three, 10-7, with just over two minutes left in the third off a feed from freshman
Connor Towne (San Jose, Calif.) for the final tally of period three.
Cronin opened the final quarter with his second man-up goal and second assist from Scrutchfield in the first minute. Springfield answered immediately to remain ahead by three scores, 11-8, just six seconds later. The Ducks continued to fight and got back to within a single goal at 11-10 on consecutive scores from O'Shea and Maroon from 13:39 to 10:39, both were assisted by Scrutchfield. The Pride put the game away with three goals in a 2:23 span after the 7:34 mark in the quarter.
Maroon paced Stevens with three goals, while Cronin netted two. Ferentini, Incollingo, Scrutchfield, Serrante and O'Shea all picked up one score. Scrutchfield dished out a game-best four assists, while Ferentine and Towne had one.
Incollingo also won 17-of-22 face-off and scooped up a game-high 12 groundballs. Senior
Tim Culloty (Mahwah, N.J.) forced three turnovers and picked up six groundballs on the defensive end for Stevens.
Freshman
Kevin Rafferty (Bay Shore, N.Y.) stopped eight shots in the losing effort. Springfield's goalie, Connor Nash made 13 saves.
Stevens outshot Springfield, 49-33, and won the groundball battle, 38-31. The Ducks also won 18-of-27 face-off, but were on the wrong end in clears, as the Pride converted on 15-of-17 and Stevens was 8-for-11. Both teams turned the ball over 15 times.
Franklin & Marshall 15, Elmira 7
The Elmira College men's lacrosse team (0-1) opened the 2014 season at Franklin and Marshall College (1-2) this afternoon, falling to the Diplomats 15-7. The Soaring Eagles maintained pace with Franklin and Marshall throughout the first quarter, but EC could not overcome a five-goal second quarter from the Diplomats.
Mike Knowlton'14 made his first start in net since the 2012 season and made 11 saves in the defeat.
Franklin and Marshall got on the scoreboard just 1:24 into the game but EC answered back just over a minute later when
Myles Richards '17 netted his first career goal.
David Evert'14 would pick up an assist on the goal. The Diplomats would retake the lead with a man-up goal but
Christian Archambeault '14 would tie the score just before the end of the first quarter with his first goal of the season. Elmira finished the second period tied 2-2 despite being outshot 12-3.
The second quarter saw five goals scored, all by Franklin and Marshall as the Diplomats started to pull away. Elmira was again outshot in the quarter, this time 14-2. EC played an even third quarter, putting three additional goals on the board, but Franklin and Marshall maintained their five-goal advantage heading into the final quarter.
The Diplomats put any thought of a Soaring Eagle comeback to rest after Franklin and Marshall scored five of the first six goals in the fourth quarter to take a 15-6 advantage.
Brian Conzola '14 would tally a man-up goal with 48 seconds to play to bring it to the 15-7 final score.