Saxons Have Strong Showing; Hartwick, Naz and Utica Come Up Short
ALFRED
A strong second half surge propelled the Alfred University men's lacrosse team to a 10-6 win over the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Wednesday afternoon during the Saxons' spring break training trip.
Ben DeMarco (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown) led the now 3-0 Saxons with a hat-trick on net and a pair of assists.
Derek Bishopp (Livonia, NY/Livonia) supplemented the effort with a three-score of his own and one helper.
John Winchell (Vestal, NY/Vestal) led AU in the assists category with good passes on three goals while also finding net on one of his shots.
Alfred and Merchant Marine were neck and neck in a game that looked like it would come down to the final goal, after AU held a 4-3 lead after the first quarter with USMMA tying it 4-4 before halftime. The Saxons opened the third quarter with an effort resulting in three goals while the Mariners only managed to score once. AU piled on another three scores in the fourth to Merchant Marine's one.
Drew Gardner (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) faced 17 shots on goal with 11 saves and also a ground ball before
Chris Doktor (East Rochester, NY/Eastridge) checked in at goal to earn one save on one targeted shot.
The Saxons combined for 39 ground balls with Jimmi Pratti leading the way with seven. AU's offensive pressure and defensive stands gave the Saxons a 37-25 shot advantage on the day.
HARTWICK
Hartwick's men's lacrosse rallied from a four-goal fourth-quarter deficit to pull to within a single goal but two Eastern Connecticut State tallies in the final two minutes pushed the Warriors past the Hawks on Wednesday at Wright Stadium, 9-6. The game marked the first game of 2015 for the Hawks, who waited 11 days from their originally scheduled opener. The Warriors improve to 1-2.
Hartwick trailed 1-0 after the first quarter but registered three straight goals in a 3:04 span to move ahead 3-1 in the second. The Warriors responded with two straight goals for a 3-3 tie at half, and added four more in the third to open up a 7-3 margin.
The Hawks scored three straight in the fourth, including their sixth goal with 8:27 remaining, to make it a 7-6 game. It remained a one-goal contest for nearly seven minutes until ECSU got an insurance goal with 1:38 left. It tacked on the final goal with 13 ticks left.
Seven Hawks registered at least a point in the contest, led by
Sean Brown's (Pleasantville, NY/Pleasantville) two goals.
Evan Petillo (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North),
Cody Petillo (Holbrook, NY/Sachem North),
Jacob Sasche(Baltimore, MD/Boys' Latin School of MD), and
Devlin Clarke (Sparkill, NY/Tappan Zee) also found the net for the Hawks.
The game started off scoreless for the opening nine minutes of action before the Warriors broke the ice at 5:56 of the first quarter. The Hawks got on the scoreboard early in the second on an
Evan Petillo goal which was set up by
Roy Simmons (Fayetteville, NY/Fayettville-Manlius) at 13:13.
At 10:37,
Cody Petillo fired past ECSU keeper Blake Smaldone to give Hartwick a 2-1 advantage. Twenty-six seconds later, Brown netted his first of the game with
Cody Petillo assisting to give the Hawks a two-goal cushion, 3-1.
ECSU made it 3-2 with 3:09 left in the half and another Warrior tally with five seconds left evened the score at 3-3 at the break.
The Warriors controlled the third quarter, out-scoring the Hawks 4-0. They went ahead at the 13:21 mark but the game remained 4-3 for nearly the next 10 minutes. Three ECSU goals with under 4:43 left in the quarter handed it a 7-3 edge after 45 minutes.
Sachse opened the scoring in the final quarter for Hartwick with 12:44 left on an unassisted goal. Brown then scored from
Matt McCallan (Bay Shore, NY/West Islip) with 9:05 to go and Clarke tallied 38 seconds later and the Hawks' deficit was down to one, 7-6.
Both teams fired three shots over the next six minutes, including a Brown shot for the Hawks that rang off the post with just over five minutes left on the clock.
Steven Nixon would push the Warriors lead to two, however, with 1:38 left. The Hawks registered three more shots before Chris Barnett closed out the scoring with 13 seconds left.
The Warriors finished with a slim 38-32 edge in shots for the game. Both teams collected 36 ground balls. The Hawks also won 12-of-19 face-offs on the day.
Connor Hudson (Moriches, NY/William Floyd) grabbed a game-high nine ground balls for 'Wick. He also won 10 face-offs.
David Bianculli (Charlton, MA/Shepard Hill Regional) contributed four ground balls.
Kevin Rourke (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) caused four Warrior turnovers for the Hawks.
Mike Rourke (Long Beach, NY/Long Beach) made 10 saves in the 'Wick goal.
Nixon, Zach Thresher, and Michael Dellanno each scored twice for Eastern Connecticut State. Smaldone made 12 stops in the Warrior cage.
NAZARETH
Nazareth dominated Oneonta Wednesday in a non-conference men's lacrosse game in every statistical category except the one that matters most -- the scoreboard. The Red Dragons rallied from a one-goal halftime deficit to defeat the Golden Flyers, 5-4, in a game played at IMG Academy.
The Golden Flyers are 2-2 overall afrer playing in their fourth straight one-goal game. Oneonta improved to 3-2.
Nazareth had decisive advantages in shots (47-22), ground balls (24-11) and face-offs (12-1), yet managed to score just one goal in the second half as Oneonta overcame a 3-2 halftime deficit. The Red Dragons got second-half goals from Josh Heller, Alec Solomito and Dan King to take a 5-3 lead.
Junior
Luke Wooters scored his second goal of the game for Nazareth with 1:28 to go to bring Nazareth to within 5-4, but Nazareth couldn't get the equalizing goal. Nazareth's
Drew Simoneau won the ensuing faceoff, but shots by
Matt O'Neill and Wooters sailed over the goal in the closing seconds.
Oneonta goalie Ryan Adler was the real story of the game for the Red Dragons as he made 23 saves, including several from point-blank range. In addition, shots bny O'Neill and
Troy Haefele hit the post late in the fourth quarter.
Oneonta's Robert Neubert opened the scoring in the first quarter after collecting a loose ball and going in alone against Nazareth goalie
Michael Cuciti and scoring unassisted. Nazareth tied it late in the first quarter as
Hunter Burdick scored unassisted for his fourth goal of the season. Second-quarter goals by Wooters and O'Neill, the second coming on extra man, enabled the Golden Flyers to secure a 3-2 lead at the half.
Oneonta in general and Adler in particular kept Nazareth frustrated in the second half. Nazareth failed on three extra-man attempts over the final 30 minutes and Adler continued to come up big by making eight more saves.
Sophomore
Michael Cuciti started in goal for Nazareth and made six saves. Simoneau won 12 of 13 faceoffs and had 10 of Nazareth's 24 ground balls.
UTICA
The Hamilton College men's lacrosse team netted six fourth quarter goals to pull away as the Continentals retained the Contineer Cup with an 11-6 victory on Wednesday afternoon at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. The contest marked the fifth annual Contineer Cup rivalry game between the two central New York programs.
Hamilton's Sam Sweet led the way with five points on three goals and two assists as the visitors won their third straight game. The Continentals, who are receiving votes in the latest USILA National poll, improved to 3-1 overall on the year. Utica's record dropped to 1-2 overall and the Pioneers will return to action on Saturday when they host Potsdam State at 3 p.m.
Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) led the way for UC with three points on two goals and one assist.
Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva),
Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) and
Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) each recorded two points for the Pioneers. Miller finished with a team-best two goals, while Stevenson added one goal, one assist and two caused turnovers.
Hamilton earned a 2-1 first quarter lead after goals from J.D. Brachman and Pax Anthos. Both of the Continental goals were assisted by Sam Sweet. Brachman finished the day with two goals and one assist.
UC knotted the score at 2-2 early in the second quarter when Miller netted his third of the season, off an assist from Wheatley. Hamilton rallied with two goals before the half to take a 4-2 lead into the intermission.
The Pioneers came out of the gates hot in the second half and tied the score at 4-4 with a pair of goals from senior classmates
Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) and
Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge), just 1:26 apart. Byrne, a long-stick defender, now has three career goals for the Pioneers.
UC preserved the 4-4 tie until Hamilton's Brian Bauersfeld broke the silence with his first goal of the season with 2:11 to go in the third quarter of the play to hand the visitors a 5-4 lead headed into the final 15 minutes of action.
The Continentals dominated the fourth quarter, outscoring Utica 6-2 down the stretch. Two quick scores to open the quarter by Joe Ricciuti and Pat Donahoe extended the Hamilton lead to 7-4 with 11:24 remaining.
Patrick Mulligan (Commack, NY/Commack) cut the Pioneer deficit to two goals with his second tally of the season at 8:44, but the Continentals had the answer as they put two more on the board in a stretch of 1:04 to take a 9-5 lead with 4:17 remaining.
Miller and
Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) connected for a Pioneer goal with 3:00 left on the game clock but it proved too late as the visitors tallied two more goals in the final 2:34 of action to earn the five goal victory.
Utica goalie
Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) made 10 saves in net and he also picked up four ground balls. Will Driscoll stopped nine shots for the Continentals.
Byrne picked up a team-best five ground balls for UC while Sellers Garrett led the visitors with five ground balls of his own.