Nazareth knocks off #10 Cabrini; Stevens Wins Second Straight
NAZARETH 11, Cabrini 9
Nazareth's men's lacrosse won its third conseuctive game on Sunday when the Golden Flyers defeated 10th-ranked Cabrini 11-9 at the Greene Turtle Classic hosted by Stevenson University. Nazareth outscored the Cavaliers 6-0 in the first quarter and stretched its lead to 9-0 at halftime. Junior
Luke Wooters tallied a game-high four goals to lead the Golden Flyers' attack.
With the victory, Nazareth stretches its winning streak to three games and improves to 5-2 overall. Following the loss, Cabrini drops to 4-4 overall. The loss comes a day after the Cavaliers defeated host Stevenson, ranked third nationally. Cabrini's other losses have been to second-ranked RIT, sixth-ranked Lynchburg, and 15th-ranked Salisbury. The Golden Flyers' two losses have each been by one goal, 10-9 to Hamilton and 5-4 to Oneonta.
Nazareth senior
Drew Simoneau was an primary component of the offense with his proficiency on faceoffs. Simoneau finished the contest with a dominant 17-6 advantage, which provided the Golden Flyers with additional possessions.
Classmate
Will Fallo started the offensive onslaught in the first quarter with a goal 4:45 into the game after he received a pass from Wooters. Following a pair of faceoff victories by Simoneau, junior
Dan O'Brien and sophomore
Nick Arnold each found the back of the Cabrini net in a span of 49 seconds to stretch the Golden Flyers' lead to 3-0. O'Brien's goal was unassisted with the 30-second warning ticking down, while senior
Kyle Fanning assisted on Arnold's score.
After Nazareth forced a turnover on a Cabrini clear attempt, Fallo scored his second goal of the game and eighth of the season with about five minutes left in the period. Sophomore
Luke Longo assisted on the goal, which came only seconds after the turnover. Wooters extended the lead to six goals with two scores in the final 2:19 of the stanza. After junior
Troy Haefele set up Wooters' first goal, Wooters scored his second unassisted with only 10 seconds in the period.
In the second quarter, Haefele, Wooters, and Longo each scored to give Nazareth a commanding 9-0 lead at the break. Haefele's goal, only 1:32 into the period, was unassisted. Wooters and Longo, who scored midway through the stanza, were assisted by Fanning and Haefele, respectively.
The Golden Flyers finished the opening 30 minutes with a 20-7 advantage in total shots, and sophomore
Michael Cuciti made three saves to hold the Cavaliers scoreless. Nazareth also forced Cabrini into committing 20 turnovers and forced four failed clears.
Cabrini tallied six straight goals in the first 12:53 of the third quarter to crawl back into the game. Mike Leyden, who leads the Cavaliers in total points with 17 goals and 13 assists, scored the first, fourth, and sixth goals of the run. James Magnani, Tyler Johnston, and Damian Sobieski, who also has 17 goals on the season, also found the back of the Nazareth net. Leyden's third goal of the game cut the Golden Flyers' lead to 9-6 with 3:07 to play in the quarter.
With only :01 left in the third, Wooters tallied his fourth goal of the game and team-high 16th of the season to slow the Cavaliers' momentum. The scoring chance came after Nazareth rebounded from a turnover by forcing a Cabrini turnover with eight seconds to play in the period. Senior
Matt McDermott collected the loose ball in the closing seconds and pushed the ball to Wooters to convert the opportunity.
In the fourth quarter, Sobieski scored two goals sandwiched by a man-up goal by junior
Matt O'Neill to leave the Golden Flyers ahead 11-8 with 6:37 to play in regulation. The Cavaliers added a goal in the final four minutes but were unable to close their deficit to less than two goals as Nazareth maintained possession for the majority of the final minutes. The Golden Flyers collected three ground balls in the closing 65 seconds, including two by senior defenseman
Jerry Chasteen.
Nazareth finished with an overwhelming 39-20 advantage in ground balls collected, aided by Simoneau's success on faceoffs. Simoneau grabbed a game-high 13 ground balls. The Golden Flyers also forced eight failed clears over the course of the game, including four in the fourth quarter. With its 20 shots in the first half, Nazareth closed the game with a 32-25 advantage in total shots.
Cuciti earned the victory with six saves. Tyler Morrell played the opening quarter in the Cavaliers' net and took the loss. He was credited with two saves and allowed six goals. In relief, Jake Reynolds made 10 saves and allowed five goals in 45 minutes of action.
STEVENS 8, Colorado College 4
Senior captain
Michael Maroon scored four goals and the Ducks' defense was stingy as the Stevens Institute of Technology men's lacrosse team improved to 4-3 with an 8-6 win over Colorado College Sunday at the DeBaun Athletic Complex.
Maroon poured in a season-high four markers on nine shots, adding a ground ball and caused turnover to his line in a strong performance to pace the Ducks. Junior goalie
Austin Boyd made 10 saves and allowed just six goals against in another solid performance as the Stevens defense allowed single-digits for the fifth time this season (4-1).
The Ducks went on top 2-0 3:43 into the game thanks to tallies from Maroon and freshman attack
Tommy Dawsonwho picked up the first two scores of his young career. Junior attack
Connor O'Shea picked up an assist on the Dawson goal, with the Tigers (6-3 overall) slicing the lead in half (2-1) with 2:42 left in the opening period.
Stevens' second quarter was excellent, as the Ducks outscored Colorado 4-0 to take a 6-1 lead into the locker room. Junior midfielder
Matt Ferentini found Maroon for a man-up goal to start the run, and 8:31 later Dawson's second made it 4-1 Stevens. Sophomore
Michael Serrante tallied thanks to an assist from sophomore midfielder
Connor McKeon and Ferentini closed the first-half scoring.
The Ducks' lead moved to 7-1 with Maroon's third of the game on the back of another Ferentini assist, but despite taking a 7-2 lead into the fourth quarter, things became interesting late.
Five Tigers scored goals in a 5-0 run over a span of 15:32 of game time to fight within one at the 4:54 mark of the fourth quarter. The guests won the ensuing faceoff, but Boyd was able to intercept an errant Tiger pass to give the Ducks possession.
On that possession, Dawson – who finished the day with three points – found Maroon with 2:58 left to give the Ducks some breathing room (8-6), and a win by junior midfielder
Brett Incollingo on the next faceoff gave the Ducks the chance to run out the clock, which they did.
Stevens ended the game with a 35-28 edge in shots, putting 20 on cage. Stevens held a 28-24 margin in ground balls and won 10-of-18 faceoffs. Each team was 1-for-6 on its man-up chances with the Ducks converting 16-of-18 clears.
O'Shea, Incollingo, Boyd and sophomore defenseman
Jan Schoonen all had four ground balls, with Boyd and senior defenseman
Logan Bagarozy each notching a pair of caused turnovers.