Johnson Wins 100th Game at Fisher
St. John FIsher 20, Houghton 2 BOX SCORE
Head coach John Johnson reached a milestone on Wednesday, as the St. John Fisher College men's lacrosse team scored a season-high 20 goals en route to a 20-2 win over Houghton College at Fisher's Growney Stadium. The win marked the 100th of Johnson's storied career at Fisher.
Since taking over the reins in 2006, Johnson has helped establish the Cardinals as one of the region's premier lacrosse programs, guiding Fisher to five Empire 8 Championship berths and three ECAC Upstate Championship appearances. Johnson currently holds a 100-44 record at Fisher – good for a .694 winning percentage.
The Cardinals, now 6-4 overall, wasted little time putting Houghton (0-11) in the hole as Fisher reeled off four goals in under three minutes.
Dante Giordano would add another tally for Fisher after ripping a shot past the Houghton goaltender to give the home team a 5-0 lead after one quarter of play.
Jeff Wester made it 6-0 as the Livonia native scored only eight seconds into the second quarter on a feed from
Gary Bova. The Cardinals would net seven more goals over the next 10 minutes before Houghton would find the back of the net at 4:06 to make it 13-1.
After a pair of Fisher goals to start the second half, Houghton was able to net its second goal of the game, but the Cardinals responded in a big way, scoring five unanswered goals including a man-up tally by Bova leading to a 20-2 win.
Fisher's defense was at its best as it held Houghton to only four shots all game. The Cardinals also turned the Highlanders over 21 times.
Collin Carson paced Fisher, winning 10-of-11 face off attempts, while nabbing a team-high four ground balls. Fisher used three goalies in the contest with
Zach Knight earning his first career win.
15 different players registered a point in the win, led by Wester who notched two goals and four helpers. Bova had a pair of goals and three assists, while Giordano netted three goals.
Drew Brown notched four points on one goal and three assists.
Joe Gaug and
Tyler Mason each scored a goal and assisted on another.
Jake Aldrich scored a pair for Fisher as did
Jerry Warner.
Ithaca 20, Utica 4 Box Score
The 12th-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team (9-3, 3-0 Empire 8) powered to a 20-4 victory over visiting Utica (5-6, 1-2 Empire 8) Wednesday afternoon at Higgins Stadium. Freshman
John Januszkiewicz posted a season-high eight-point performance with six goals and a pair of assists to lead Ithaca to its fourth straight win against the Pioneers.
Ithaca posted a 5-0 gap in the first before improving to 9-0 at the six-minute mark of the second quarter. Utica netted back-to-back goals, but the Bombers scored three in the final 38 seconds of the period to lead 12-2 at intermission. Utica struck first and last in the second half, while Ithaca tallied eight unanswered to bridge the third and fourth quarters and claim a 20-4 league victory.
Senior
Pat Slawta dished out a game-high three assists and chipped in two scores, classmate
Ryan Burns added two and two. Senior
Jake Long, junior
James Manilla and sophomore
Michael Walker had three points each. Long had two goals and one assist, while Manilla and Walker had one and two. Manilla has a Bomber-best 25 assists on the season.
Senior
Joe Perkins and junior
Ryan Burns each had one score and one assist. Freshmen
Sean Ferrito and
Grant Osadchey accounted for two of Ithaca's goals. Rookie
Justin Bird had a season-high two assists.
Sophomore
Eli Gobrecht recorded a career-high four caused turnovers to lead the game. Senior
Brandon Henne, who tallied once, won 9-of-15 faceoffs and collected a career-best nine ground balls. Also scoring once, classmate
Andrew Kristy added seven ground balls.
Sophomore goalkeeper
Scott Sidnam made 13 saves in net in 52:07, matching his season-best performance against 20th-ranked St. Lawrence. It is the fourth time this season he has made double-digit saves. Freshman
Justin Isaacs and
Jack Deragon split time the remaining time in goal. Isaacs made two stops, while Isaacs wasn't forced to make a save.
Ithaca outshot Utica, 59-27, and collected 45 ground balls to Utica's 35. The Pioneers led the faceoff category, 15-11. Ithaca capitalized on 5-of-7 extra-man opportunities. Utica was 2-for-4 in a game featuring 13 penalties.
RIT 14, Nazareth 11 Box Score
Top-ranked RIT scored four consecutive goals in a span of 2:14 early in the fourth quarter to break an 8-8 tie and take a 12-8 lead with 10:37 to play in regulation. Host Nazareth closed to within three goals but the Tigers maintained their lead and went on to defeat the Golden Flyers 14-11 in a non-conference men's lacrosse game on Saturday. Senior
Brian Wright tallied three goals to lead Nazareth's attack, and sophomore
Scott Brown made 10 saves in the Golden Flyers' net.
With the loss, Nazareth's four-game winning streak ends, and the Golden Flyers slip to 6-6 overall. With the victory, the Tigers remain undefeated and improve to 12-0 overall.
Prior to RIT's four goal outburst to begin the fourth quarter, Nazareth scored five straight goals spanning the final 4:27 of the third quarter and opening 1:22 of the fourth. Sophomore
Matt O'Neill ignited the run after receiving a pass from junior
Will Fallo. Roughly three minutes later, Fallo set up another score with a pass to classmate
Kyle Fanning. O'Neill added his second goal of the game with 29 seconds to play in the third after receiving a pass from sophomore
Troy Haefele. Senior
Trevar Haefele brought Nazareth to within one goal, 8-7, when he found the back of the RIT net with only 1.6 seconds remaining in the quarter. Haefele's goal was set up by forced turnover and ground ball by freshman
Luke Longo. Longo set up a fast break in the Golden Flyers' offensive zone and passed to Haefele for the scoring opportunity. Senior
Chris Aycock capped the rally with an unassisted goal just over a minute into the fourth quarter.
After junior
Drew Simoneau won the vast majority of the faceoffs throughout the opening three periods, RIT's Tyler Brooks-Lambert answered with several consecutive faceoff wins to provide the Tigers with the possession. RIT's scoring run featured four different goal-scorers, including Ryan Lee, Jack Krzyston, Brooks-Lambert, and Taylor Wisman. Aycock closed the Tigers' lead to 12-9 with 8:14 to play in regulation following his unassisted goal, however, RIT matched Nazareth's goals over the final five minutes to thwart the Golden Flyers' rally. Wright scored both of the Golden Flyers' goals, with
Troy Haefele assisting on the first of them, while Kryzston and Matt Hossack found the back of the Nazareth net for the Tigers.
To begin the contest, Wright opened the scoring with an unassisted goal 2:21 into regulation. RIT answered with goals by Casey Jackson and Kyle Aquin before
Troy Haefele tied the game with 11 seconds remaining in the stanza. Haefele also drew a penalty on his goal, which set up senior
Collin Clark's man-up goal 21 seconds into the second quarter. Simoneau's faceoff victory at the end of the first period provided Nazareth's man-up unit with possession. Clark's goal reclaimed the Golden Flyers' lead, 3-2.
RIT answered with six consecutive scores to take the 8-3 lead with 5:34 to play in the third quarter. The Tigers' six-goal run lasted over 21 minutes during the second and third quarters. Aquin had three goals during the run, including the first and the last, and Wisman, Jackson, and Ryan Lee also scored. Lee's goal came with only 14 seconds remaining in the first half.
Nazareth finished with advantages in shots (45-39), ground balls collected (41-30), and faceoffs won (19-8). Simoneau finished with a game-high 15 ground balls. Pat Johnston saved 13 shots to earn the victory, including eight in the second half. Brown took the loss with his 10 saves. Nazareth played without sophomore stand-out
Luke Wooters, who missed his third-straight game. Despite his missed time, Wooters ranks second in goals (21) and tied for first in total points with
Troy Haefele (44).