3 Road Wins; 1 Home Victory

4/19/2014 5:59:00 PM

UTICA 18, Elmira 12
After falling in a 4-0 first quarter hole the Utica College men's lacrosse team rallied by outscoring visiting Elmira College 15-3 in the next 30 minutes as the Pioneers eventually topped the Soaring Eagles 18-12 in Empire 8 Conference action Saturday at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. Utica junior transfer Christian Reiller registered a career-high seven points on six goals and one assist, while senior Joe Schoen recorded a new career-high with six assists in his final game on the turf at Gaetano.  Schoen now has 74 career assists and needs four more to tie the College's career record for assists, which is currently held by Nate Jobson '05.

Utica has won three of its last five games and improved to 7-7 overall and 3-3 in conference play.  UC will hit the road for its final two regular season games, beginning with a trip to St. John Fisher College on Wednesday at 4 p.m. Elmira's record fell to 2-10 overall and 1-5 in conference play.

Trent Jacobs tallied six points on three goals and three assists, while senior Scott Baron added three goals on senior day for Utica.  Ross Cree added two goals and one assist for the Pioneers and senior TJ Benson also found the back of the net twice.  Zack Stevenson picked up a career-high 12 ground balls and won a career-high 18 face-offs, while senior Bryan Habick netted his first career goal in his final home game in the blue and orange.

Utica entered the second quarter trailing 4-0 before rattling off eight of the game's next 10 goals to take an 8-6 lead at the half.  Reiller scored four goals in the second quarter alone, while Cree netted two to lead the Pioneer charge.

UC scored nine straight goals between the second and third quarters to take a convincing 13-6 lead with 5:05 left in the third.  The home team opened the third quarter with five straight goals, including two from Scott Baron, to take a seven goal lead late in the quarter. Schoen assisted on four straight goals in the stretch.

Elmira outscored UC 5-3 in the final 15 minutes but it proved to be too late as the Pioneers came away with the conference victory.

Junior defender Tom Byrne registered eight ground balls and caused three turnovers for UC, while junior goalie Andrew DiOrio added seven saves in the victory.  Senior goalie Cory Spisak came on in relief and stopped 10 shots.

Utica won 24-of-32 face-offs on the afternoon and outshot the visitors 47-38.  The Pioneers also won the ground ball battle, 35-14. Elmira finished with four man-up goals.


NAZARETH 9, Stevens 7
Senior midfielder Collin Clark scored four goals and added an assist and sophomore goalie Scott Brown recorded a season-high 17 saves for visiting Nazareth Saturday as the Golden Flyers edged Stevens, 9-7, in Empire 8 Conference men's lacrosse action.

The win enabled Nazareth to snap a three-game losing streak and to improve to 7-8 overall and 5-1 in conference play. Stevens is 6-7 overall and 3-2 in the Empire 8.

Saturday marked the return to the lineup of sophomore attackman Luke Wooters, who missed five games with an ankle injury. He contributed three assists. Senior Brian Wright also scored twice for the Golden Flyers, while senior Trevar Haefele and sophomores Troy Haefele and Matt O'Neill each scored once.

The game was tied 6-6 heading into the final 15 minutes after Wright scored off an assist from Clark late in the third quarter. Troy Haefele scored early in the fourth quarter off an assist from his brother Trevar, but Stevens re-tied the score at 7-7 on an unassisted goal by Matt Ferentini with 5:40 to go.

Clark's fourth goal of the game, an unassisted tally with 4:11 to go, gave Nazareth the lead for good at 8-7. Wright added an insurance goal -- also unassisted -- with 1:56 to play. Stevens had chances in the closing minutes, but consecutive shots by Michael Serrante hit the post and were saved by Brown. Then after a Nazareth turnover, a bid by Stevens' JP Giroux was steered away by Nazareth defenseman Joe Fahy.

Clark scored two goals in the first quarter, including an extra-man tally off an assist by Wooters, as Nazareth led 3-1. Trevar Haefele also scored off an assist from freshman Hunter Burdick. In the second quarter, Stevens scored twice early to even the score, but the Golden Flyers got goals from O'Neill and Clark in the final 27 seconds to go up 5-3 at the break.

Stevens scored three straight to open the third quarter for its first and only lead of the game, before Wright tied the score again after three quarters.

Stevens had advantages in shots (43-35) and ground balls (28-21). Brown's 17 saves matched a career-high he had last season at home against Stevens.


ST. JOHN FISHER 14, Alfred 5

The St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse used an overpowering second half, outscoring host Alfred University 10-3, en route to a 14-5 victory to pick up their fifth consecutive win.

Fisher moves to 9-4 overall and 5-1 in the Empire 8 conference while the Saxons fall to 4-7, 1-4.  With just two conference games remaining the Cardinals sit in a tie for second place with East Avenue rival Nazareth College who they will face in the final game of the  regular season next Saturday.

Fisher's offensive firepower was largely aided by strong games from Nick Rossi and Gary Bova who combed for 13 points.  Rossi ended the game with five goals and one assist while Bova tallied a goal and six helpers.  Rossi got things started for Fisher scoring the only goal of the first quarter on the man-up from Jeff Wester.  

The visitors took a 3-0 lead at the 6:06 mark of the second quarter after Rossi and Tim Wagner notched back-to-back goals just :08 second apart.  However the Saxons scored the next two goals to draw within one before Rossi completed the first half hat trick late in the quarter.  Fisher led 4-2 at the break.

After a low scoring first half the Cardinals offense came alive to score 11 goals to Alfred's three, including the first six of the half to take a commanding 10-2 lead.

Wester recorded the first goal of the run three minutes in and Brett Farrell capped it off on a man-up goal from Bova at the 1:37 mark of the third quarter.  Farrell scored four of Fisher's goals during that 6-0 run including the final three.

The home squad chipped away to cut the deficit to 11-5 five minutes into the final frame, however Fisher scored the final four goals of the contest to wrap up the victory.

Wester continued his stellar play with four assists and one goal.  Taylor Muztafago scooped up a game-high seven ground balls while Paul Cefalu recorded six.

Jamie Campagna earned the win in net for Fisher making four saves.


ITHACA 19, Hartwick 7

The 11th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team (11-3, 5-0 Empire 8) picked up its fourth straight win with a 19-7 victory at Hartwick (3-9, 0-6 Empire 8) Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bombers jumped out to a 7-1 lead in the first and held a 12-3 gap at halftime. The third featured just three goals, Ithaca scoring the first and last of the period. The Hawks tallied first in the final frame before the Bombers rattled off five straight for a 19-5 advantage at 5:33. Hartwick put away two final scores to end the game.
 
Thirteen Bombers accounted for Ithaca's 19 goals. Senior Pat Slawta led the game with three goals and three assists. Junior James Manilla also dished out a trio of assists, in addition to one goal. Seniors Jake Long, Ryan Burns and Andrew Kristy and rookie Justin Bird netted two scores each, a career-best for Kristy. Freshman John Januszkiewicz and sophomore Michael Walker had two feeds each, while adding one score. Senior Joe Perkins had one and one.
 
Senior Brandon Henne, who won 8-of-12 faceoffs, scored once. Freshmen Forrest Rall and Sean Ferrito and junior Steve Danylyshyn accounted for Ithaca's other three goals. Junior Jimmy Ryanhad one assist. Freshman Grant Osadchey won 7-of-9 faceoffs. Junior Matt Greenblatt added three wins and Danylyshyn one.
 
Defensively, sophomore Eli Gobrecht had three caused turnovers. Osadchey, Kristy and juniorJohn Figarelli scooped up five ground balls each. Three others had four.
 
Sophomore Scott Sidnam played the first 54:27 of the game in goal, making seven saves. Freshmen Jack Deragon and Justin Isaacs finished out the game with Isaacs making one stop.
 
Ithaca, who remains atop the Empire 8 standings, outshot Hartwick 55-26 and collected 44 ground balls to Hartwick's 22. The Bombers won 19 of 29 faceoffs, while the Hawks led the turnover count, 24-16.

SCHOOL	CONF	OVERALL
Ithaca	5-0	11-2
St. John Fisher	5-1	9-4
Nazareth	5-1	7-8
Stevens	3-2	6-7
Utica	3-3	7-7
Alfred	1-4	4-7
Elmira	1-5	2-10
Hartwick	0-6	3-9
Houghton	0-0	0-13
Houghton is an NCAA provisional member and games against the Highlanders will not impact conference records/standings.