Nazareth and Ithaca Claim E8 Wins

Nazareth and Ithaca Claim E8 Wins

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NAZARETH v ALFRED
Nazareth's junior attack tandem of Troy Haefele and Luke Wooters put on an offensive clinic Wednesday in an Empire 8 Conference men's lacrosse game at Alfred University's Yunevich Stadium. The pair combined for nine goals and 10 assists as Nazareth won its conference opener, 19-8, over the Saxons, who lost for the first time this season.

Nazareth won its fourth in a row and improved to 6-2 overall and 1-0 in Empire 8 action. Alfred is 7-1 overall and 1-1 in the E8. Haefele had seven goals and one assist and became the 15th Nazareth player to surpass 100 career goals. He now has 102. Wooters, who reached the 100-goal milestone earlier in the season, had a career-high 11 points on two goals and nine assists.

With senior Drew Simoneau winning faceoffs with his usual regularity -- he won 13 of 15 draws in the first half -- Nazareth controlled possession time in the first half to build an insurmountable advantage. Nazareth led 5-0 after one quarter and scored the first two goals of the second quarter to go up 7-0 before Alfred got on the scoreboard. Wooters had one goal and three assists in the first quarter and Haefele had two goals and one assist in the first quarter. Sophomore Nick Arnold and senior Dan O'Brien also scored as Nazareth gained control early. Nazareth scored seven more times in the second quarter to go up 12-2.

In the second quarter, Haefele scored five more times -- all on assists from Wooters, who leads the Golden Flyers in scoring with 37 points on 18 goals and 19 assists. Haefele has 29 points on 16 goals and 13 assists. Matt McDermott also had a goal in the second quarter and Wooters delivered an extra-man tally on a pass from sophomore Joe Eiskant with :12 left in the half.

Nazareth was equally dominant in the second half as the Golden Flyers scored seven more times, including career first goals for freshmen Ben Bickford, Chris Murphy and Paul Walter. Junior Vincent Loscalzo also scored his first goal of the season. Nazareth scored four times in the third quarter with O'Brien scoring his second goal of the game. Junior Matt O'Neill added a pair of extra-man goals -- one in the third quarter and one in the fourth.

Simoneau finished with 15 face-off wins in 18 attempts overall and a game-high 10 ground balls. Alfred had a 42-34 advantage in shots and Nazareth had 30 ground balls to Alfred's 24. Sophomore Michael Cuciti made his seventh straight start in goal and equaled a career-best with 11 saves. Freshman Rick Kronenwett played the final 7:30 and had two saves.


ITHACA v ST. JOHN FISHER
The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team defeated the St. John Fisher Cardinals 12-5 in Empire 8 action on Wednesday, March 25, extending its win streak to four. The Bombers victory at Higgins Stadium improves their record to 7-2 on the season and 3-0 in the Empire 8. The Cardinals are now 4-3 and 0-1 in the conference.

Ithaca gained an early lead scoring one minute and 20 seconds into the game, off of a goal from John Jansuzkewicz, assisted by Stephen Morrell. With less than one minute left in the first quarterSean Ferrito converted on a pass from Jake Cotton, to put the Bombers up 2-0.

St. John Fisher responded by scoring two goals in the first three minutes of the second quarter to tie the score. No goals would be scored for the remainder of the quarter, leaving the score tied 2-2 at half-time.

With 8:36 left in the third quarter, freshman Kaelan Fitzpatrick scored on a man-up opportunity to give Ithaca back the lead. Sophomore John Januszkiewicz put one in the back of the net for the Bombers at 7:20 extending Ithaca's lead 4-2.

The Cardinals answered one minute later with a goal, bringing the score back within one. Ithaca then went on a three goal rally in the next four minutes, ending the third quarter 7-3 in favor of Ithaca. In that time, Jack Shumway scored all three goals on assists from Jake Cotton, Stephen Morrell and James Manilla.

In the fourth quarter, St. John Fisher snuck two past the Ithaca defense, while the Bombers registered five goals in six minutes. At 12:17, Cotton scored on a feed from Fitzpatrick and then assisted Morrell's goal 20 seconds later. With just over 10 minutes left in the game, Justin Birdrecorded a goal on a pass from Steve Danylyshyn. Cotton logged an assist on Januszkiewicz's third goal of the day and then went on to score the final goal of the game for the Bombers at 6:41.

Cotton tied a career high six points with two goals and four assists. Shumway put away three goals for the Bombers, while Bird, Ferrito, Fitzpatrick and Morrell each scored once. Morell also added two assists for Ithaca. Manilla, Danylyshyn and Fitzpatrick earned an assist each.

Junior goalie Scott Sidnam recorded eight saves in the win.

Matt Greenblatt tallied a team-best six groundballs on the day. Jimmy Ryan and Eli Gobrecht each scooped five groundballs for Ithaca.

The Bombers led Fisher 40-22 in shots and edged the Cardinals 39 to 24 in ground balls. Ithaca won 12-of-19 faceoffs, with Greenblatt winning 11 of those 12.  The Bombers were successful on 15-of-18 clear attempts.

UTICA
The Utica College men's lacrosse team netted four goals in the first 4:28 of the contest, and went on to outscore visiting Oswego State 6-2 in the second half, as the Pioneers earned a convincing 12-6 victory over the Lakers at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium on Wednesday afternoon. Utica's Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) netted a career-high four goals, while senior Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) added a career-high five points (three goals, two assists).

The Pioneers have now won four in a row, and five of their last six games, as their record improved to 5-2 overall on the season.  After starting the season 3-0, the visiting Lakers have now dropped two straight contests as their record moved to 3-2 overall on the season. 

Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) also chipped in with two goals and one assist for the Pioneers, while Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) added a career-best two goal effort. 

Senior goalie Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post) stopped six shots in his fifth win of the season and he has now allowed six goals or less in four straight games. 

Utica opened the contest with four quick goals to take a 4-0 lead in the first 4:28 of the game.  Stevenson, Finnegan, House and Wheatley scored the game's first four goals for Utica.

Oswego went on to rattle off three consecutive goals to make it a 4-3 game with 13:30 left in the first half.  UC outscored the visitors 2-1 in the final 7:38 of the second quarter to take a 6-4 lead into halftime.

UC dominated the third stanza, outscoring the visitors 4-0 in the 15 minute stretch, as the Pioneers earned a 10-4 lead headed into the fourth and final quarter of action. Finnegan added two third quarter goals, while Stevenson and Patrick Mulligan (Commack, NY/Commack) each added one goal apiece. Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) registered his lone assist of the game on Finnegan's second goal of the third quarter.

Both teams' netted two fourth quarter tallies as the Pioneers came away with the six goal victory.  House and Finnegan netted the fourth quarter goals for UC.  

Utica was 14-for-16 on the ride and the Pioneers also outshot the visitors 28-25 on the day. 

Senior defender Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) caused three turnovers and picked up three ground balls for Utica, while Wheatley added three ground balls and Finnegan posted three caused turnovers.

Nick Giampaolo posted four ground balls and two assists for the Lakers.  Matt Palmer also chipped in with one goal and one assist for Oswego. Wyatt Russo stopped three shots in net for the Lakers.

Wednesday's six goal victory helped Utica snap a five game losing streak in the series against Oswego.

 
STEVENS
e 20th ranked Montclair State University men's lacrosse team defeated Stevens Institute of Technology by a score of 11-9 on a rainy Wednesday night at the DeBaun Athletic Complex.
 
The largest lead for either team was three goals as the Red Hawks were able to take a 9-6 lead into the fourth quarter, scoring two goals in the final minute of the third thanks to senior midfielder Zach Schreck.
 
Despite the tall task, the Ducks clawed back, tying the game with 8:16 remaining after a 3-0 run. Sophomore midfielder Connor McKeon tallied 3:19 into the final period, and junior midfielder Matt Ferentini brought the Ducks within one thanks to an assist from sophomore attack Tim Leahey. Senior midfielder Michael Maroon fed junior midfielder Michael Serrante to tie the game and it looked like the Ducks had seized all the momentum.
 
However, Stevens was unable to find the back of the net late, and the Red Hawks notched a man-down tally with 6:13 left before clinching the win with Schreck's third of the night at 2:43.
 
Leahey opened the scoring with a man-up goal 1:32 into the game. Following a MSU (5-2) equalizer, freshman attach Tommy Dawson notched his third in the last two games, but the Red Hawks ran off two-straight to take a 3-2 lead. Serrante's fifth of the year and first of the night evened things at three heading into the second.
 
In quarter two, MSU outscored the Ducks (4-4) 3-2, with Stevens getting goals from Maroon and Leahey and assists from freshman midfielder John Boutureira and McKeon. Maroon scored unassisted for the only Duck goal of the third.
 
The Ducks finished with a 48-36 margin in shots, putting 24 on goal, and they also had a 34-31 edge in ground balls.
 
Junior midfielder Brett Incollingo won 13 of his 21 faceoffs, scooping up six ground balls, as the Ducks went 15-for-23 in the 'X'.
 
Maroon led Stevens with two goals, two assists, two caused turnovers and two ground balls, while Leahey had three points on two goals and one assist. Serrante tallied twice, and McKeon had two points. Junior attack Connor O'Shea notched four ground balls and a caused turnover, while junior midfielder Colin Sawula had three ground balls and a caused turnover. Sophomore defenseman Jake Krantz picked up four ground balls and won both his faceoffs, with sophomore defenseman Jan Schoonen tallying four ground balls.
 
Junior Austin Boyd made eight saves in goal for Stevens, adding two ground balls. Junior Lucas Jones made 15 stops for the Red Hawks to earn the win.