Stevens, Utica and Ithaca Win on Wednesday
Stevens 10, Montclair 7
The Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team took down previously unbeaten and No. 10 Montclair State University, 10-7, on Wednesday evening at Sprague Field. Stevens ends a five-game losing streak with the victory and extends its winning edge over Montclair to six games dating back to 2010.
The Ducks (2-5) trailed Montclair (6-1) early in the first quarter, 2-0, after 3:14 burned off the clock, but responded with back-to-back goals from sophomores
Michael Serrante and
Andrew Scrutchfield over the next four minutes to tie the ballgame. Montclair would win the ensuing faceoff and march right down the field to regain the lead, 3-2, eight seconds later. The Ducks answered immediately after a holding penalty on the Red Hawks to give junior
Michael Maroon a man-up score 14 seconds after the infraction to end the offense in the opening period.
The in-state foes continued to trade goals in the second quarter and went into halftime deadlocked at 6-6. Montclair struck first in the stanza after three minutes ticked away, only to be erased by an unassisted tally from sophomore
Matt Ferentini. The Red Hawks went back up by one at the 10:30 mark, but Maroon brought Stevens right back a minute later off a pass from Ferentini. Midway through the quarter, Montclair found the back of the net again to go up, 6-5. The advantage did not last long for the Red Hawks as Maroon scooped up a groundball after the faceoff and raced down the field and recorded his first half hat trick with 7:29 left before intermission.
Stevens grabbed its first lead of the contest, 7-6, on an off-balance shot from Scrutchfield with 10:35 remaining in the third period which resulted in the lone goal on either side in the quarter. The Ducks turned to their defense and solid goaltending from freshman
Kevin Rafferty to keep Montclair off the board.
Rafferty made seven of his game-high 14 saves in the third quarter for his second win of the season. The freshman has stopped double-digit shots in five of seven outings this season and four straight.
Scrutchfield staked the Ducks to a two-goal edge, 8-6, just 2:01 into the final quarter of play, and Stevens continued to build on the lead with Maroon's fourth score of the showdown 46 seconds later which forced Montclair to call a timeout and regroup. After almost four minutes elapsed out of the timeout, Stevens struck again to take a four-score lead off a long shot from senior
Charlie Cronin which was assisted by Ferentini. Montclair finally broke its scoreless streak of almost 33 minutes (7:47 of the second quarter to 6:32 left in the fourth) to pull back to within a 10-7 deficit but could never get any closer.
Ithaca 15, Oneonta 6
The 11th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team (5-1) upended host Oneonta (1-6), 15-6, Wednesday afternoon to claim its fourth straight win.
The Bombers jumped out to a commanding 6-0 lead in the first quarter and never looked back. They led 9-2 at the half. Ithaca outscored Oneonta 5-1 in the third, but the Red Dragons netted three in the fourth to Ithaca's one for a 15-6 final. The Bombers were 3-for-5 in extra-man opportunities during the game.
Despite the nine-goal win, Ithaca was outshot 53-32. The Bombers won 15 of 24 faceoffs and collected 36 ground balls to Oneonta's 28.
Sophomore Scott Sidnam claimed the victory in cage. He made nine stops and allowed three goals in 45 minutes of action. Rookies Justin Isaacs and Jack Deragon split the final quarter and combined to make three saves.
Rookie John Januszkiewicz tallied a game-best four goals and added an assist to pace the Bombers. Junior James Manilla dished out three assists and added a score for four points. Senior Jake Long and sophomore Michael Walker scored three and two goals, respectively.
Senior Brandon Henne and junior Matt Greenblatt won six faceoffs each. Rookie Grant Osadchey was a perfect 3-for-3. Greenblatt scooped up a contest-best five ground balls and senior Jimmy Ryan forced a pair of turnovers.
Utica 14, Castleton 9
The Utica College men's lacrosse team got back on track Wednesday as it downed visiting Castleton State 14-9 in non-conference action. Senior TJ Benson led the Pioneers with three goals on the day.
Utica got on the board just over five and a half minutes into the game as Benson netted his fifth of the season, assisted by Christian Reiller. Castleton evened the score just over a minute later, but Benson struck again at 6:31 to regain the Utica lead. Just over two minutes later, Reiller connected with freshman Ross Cree for his eighth of the year.
Castleton fought back in the second quarter, netting two goals to once again tie the game, however Joe Schoen’s first of the year with 48 seconds left in the half sent Utica into halftime with a 4-3 lead.
The Pioneers outscored the Spartans 10-6 in the second half to seal their third victory of the year. Reiller and Trent Jacobs each finished with two goals and one assist, and Cree also tallied three points (one goal, two assists) on the day.
Senior Cory Spisak had 11 saves for his second win of the year, while Peter Latulippe and Sam Polas combined for 14 saves for Castleton.
RIT 10, St. John Fisher 6
The St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team gave the nation's No. 1 ranked team all it could handle on Wednesday at Fisher's Growney Stadium.
Top-ranked Rochester Institute of Technology snapped a 6-6 tie early in the fourth quarter and escaped from Fisher with a 10-6 win over the Cardinals.
The Tigers jumped out to a 1-0 lead 2:30 into the game, but Fisher answered right back with senior Greg Ramsden scoring less than a minute later.
Fisher would push its lead to 3-1 after one quarter on goals from Nick Rossi and Gary Bova. The Tigers battled back, however, scoring three straight goals in the first 4:05 of the second quarter to retake the lead. Fisher's Jeff Wester tied the game at 4-4 midway through the second, but R.I.T. scored with just under three minutes left to take a 5-4 lead into the locker room.
Fisher would tie it up twice in the third. Brett Farrell knotted the game at 5s 42 seconds into the third quarter and Bova would tie it 6-6 with just over five minutes left in the period.
The Tigers took the lead for good scoring in the opening minute of the fourth. It would stay 7-6 for nearly 10 minutes, before R.I.T. scored two goals in a three-second span to pull away.
Senior goalie Jamie Campagna was sensational between the pipes, racking up a career-high 19 saves, including 11 in the first half.
Brockport 13, Elmira 8
The Elmira College men's lacrosse team staged a late rally, but their efforts came up just short as the Soaring Eagles fell to The College of Brockport, 13-8. Myles Richards '17 exploded for five goals in the game, setting a new career-high for the newcomer.
Brockport jumped out to an early lead with back-to-back goals just 56 seconds apart from one another. The Golden Eagles would add on two additional goals by the end of the first quarter to take a 4-0 lead into the second frame.
Richards got EC on the scoreboard a few minutes into the second quarter when he fired home a shot in front of the net after receiving a pass from Dustin Gatt '14. Brockport would respond, however, with three straight goals prompting Head Coach Preston Chapman to replace starter Mike Knowlton '14 with Wyatt Katsos '17 in net after Brockport netted their sixth goal of the game. Richards scored his second goal of the quarter to make it a 7-2 game, but that is as all Elmira would get in the first half as they trailed 7-2 at the break.
Similar to the previous quarter, Richards opened the third quarter's scoring with his third goal of the afternoon, this time with an assist being credited to Griffin Foley '17. Brockport and Elmira traded goals for the remainder of the third quarter as EC continued to trail by five goals heading into the final quarter.
The Purple and Gold made it a 10-6 game with 12:24 to go in regulation after David Evert '14 scored a man-up goal, but Brockport would win the ensuing face-off and push the lead back to five just seconds later. After the Golden Eagles made it a 12-6 game, the Soaring Eagles would again rally with back-to-back goals to make it a 12-8 game with over eight minutes to play. That would be as close as EC would get, however, as Brockport's defense would hold strong to keep Elmira off the scoreboard for the rest of the game. Brockport would add a late goal to bring it to the 13-8 final score.
The Soaring Eagles were outshot 38-33 and trailed the Golden Eagles in shots on goal by a 23-15 margin. Overall, EC made 10 saves, three by Knowlton and seven by Katsos. Additionally, Elmira won just 7-of-24 faceoffs, which limited their ability to complete their comeback.