Big Wins for Utica and Alfred; Naz Post Perfect E8 Record; Key Win for Bombers
UTICA 26, HOUGHTON 5
The Utica College men's lacrosse team closed out its 2015 season with a convincing 26-5 victory over visiting Houghton College on Saturday at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium. 26 goals marks the second most goals scored in a single game in program-history. Utica capped its season with an 8-8 overall record and a 3-5 mark in conference play.
Utica has now won at least eight games in five of its last seven seasons and the Pioneers secured a .500 record or better for the fourth consecutive season.
15 different Pioneers scored at least one goal in the victory. Senior
Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) led the way with four goals and five ground balls while
Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski)added a career-high three goals and two assists.
Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) chipped in with a career-high two goals and two assists while
Patrick Mulligan (Commack, NY/Commack) added a career-high four points on one goal and three assists.
Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) netted three goals for Utica and
Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic),
Mitch Sobilo (Hamburg, NY/Hamburg) and
Jeff Pierce (Clinton, NY/Clinton)each posted two goals. Sobilo also added one assist for a career-high three points. Senior
George Lopano (Croton, NY/Croton Harmon) capped his senior campaign with a career-best one goal and two assists. Lopano also went 13-for-19 on face-offs and added a game and career-high nine ground balls.
Senior
Codey Staulters (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) also chipped in with a career-high one goal and two assists. Freshman
Brandon Tracz (Oswego, NY/Oswego) added his second collegiate goal while senior
Cale Siver (Watertown, NY/General Brown) netted his first collegiate goal.
Junior
Mike Wells (Camillus, NY/West Genesee) added his first collegiate point as he registered one assist. Senior's
Fred Del Genio (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) and
Sean Flanagan (Whitesboro, NY/Whitesboro) each netted one goal apiece.
Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) added one goal and one assist as
Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) and
Patrick Dickson (West Palm Beach, FL/Cardinal Newman) each added one assist.
Senior
Tom Byrne (Lancaster, NY/Lancaster) registered seven ground balls and added two caused turnovers. Byrne finished the season with 88 ground balls which ranks ninth on the College's single season list. His 264 career ground balls ranks third on the College's all-time list and he also finished with 132 career caused turnovers.
Utica's
Zack Stevenson (Elbridge, NY/Jordan-Elbridge) will graduate ranked sixth on the College's all-time list with 218 career ground balls. In the last four years he posted 69 career points (51 goals, 18 assists) and his 428 career face-off victories ranks second all-time at UC.
Utica goalie's
Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/CW Post),
Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) and
Kobi Johnson (Akwesasne/Salmon River ) combined for seven saves between the pipes. As a team the Pioneers posted an 8.00 goals against average this season, a new school-record.
The Pioneers held a 12-2 lead at the half and went on to outscore the Highlanders 14-3 in the second half to earn the 21 goal victory.
ALFRED 18, HARTWICK 10
Sophomore attack, John Winchell tied his career high of five goals in 18-10 win over Hartwick College Saturday afternoon on the road.
Senior Nicolas Wood and freshman Jake Lynch scored four times each for the Saxons, as they racked up 18 goals against the Hawks. Lynch also added four assists to his already stellar offensive day. Junior Tanner Morse paced the Saxons with five helpers in the contest.
Sophomore Jimmy Pratti led AU with eight groundballs while winning 19-of-31 face-offs. Sophomore Chris Diesenroth and sophomore Keenan Denis had seven groundballs each.
Alfred University got out to a hot start, scoring four unanswered goals on the Hawks. Hartwick's Matt McCallan scored back-to-back goals to get the Hawks on the board. However, Lynch scored his 41
st goal of the season with 1:27 left in the quarter to increase the Saxon advantage to 5-2.
In the second quarter Wood and Morse scored to add a cushion to the lead. Hartwick's Roy Simmons began to cut into the lead with a goal, but the Hawks were quickly shocked by three more goals from the Saxons. Simmons would score one more time, but Denis would close out the half with a goal of his own to increase the lead, 11-4.
The Hawks were the first on the board in the second half, but AU rattled off another trio of goals to increase the lead yet again, 14-5. Simmons scored another two goals down the stretch in the third quarter, but his goals were answered by goals from sophomore Derek Bishopp and Lynch. Heading into the fourth quarter AU was on top, 16-7.
In the final stanza the Saxons scored twice while Hartwick netted three goals. The Hawks looked to make a comeback, but succumbed to the clock. As the game came to a close, AU held the advantage, 18-10.
A trio of goalies played for the Saxons, with freshman Drew Gardner taking most of the minutes (45). Gardner made seven saves during his time in net. Senior Tyler Beyor came in as relief, making one save. Finally, freshman Chris Doktor closed out the game and faced no shots on goal.
NAZARETH 16, ST. JOHN FISHER 6
Visiting Nazareth completed its regular-season men's lacrosse schedule Saturday with a 16-6 triumph over St. John Fisher at Growney Stadium. The victory enabled the Golden Flyers to finish the season unbeaten in Empire 8 Conference play with an 8-0 record. At 13-4 overall and ranked 15th nationally, Nazareth will be the top-seed for this week's conference tournament. The Golden Flyers will play Fisher again Wednesday at 4 p.m. at Golden Flyer Stadium.
There also will be an instant rematch in the other semifinal matchup as second-seeded Ithaca will host third-seeded Stevens Wednesday. Ithaca defeated Stevens, 16-12, in the teams' regular-season finale Saturday. The championship game is May 2 at the site of the highest remaining seed.
On Saturday, Nazareth built quarter leads of 4-1, 10-3 and 13-3 and settled for the 10-goal victory margin. Junior Luke Wooters led the offense with five goals and three assists. His career totals include 135 goals, just seven shy of Nazareth's all-time record of 142 goals, held by Marty Kelly since 1992. Junior Matt O'Neill equaled a career-best with three goals. Seniors Will Fallo and Matt McDermott each scored twice as did freshman Jacob Gray. Sophomore Joe Eiskant added a goal and senior long-stick Vincent Parrillo also scored. Sophomore Michael Cuciti started in goal and made a career-high 13 saves.
In additon, senior Drew Simoneau went 12 of 19 on face-offs to reach 1,000 wins for his career. His season totals are now 247-for-352 (.702) and his career numbers are 1,000-for-1,1528 (.654). His 1,000 wins are more than 400 wins more that Chris Nadelen, who ranks second on Nazareth's career list.
McDermott and O'Neill each scored twice in the first quarter and Wooters had two assists as Nazareth went up 4-1. O'Neill's first goal started a string of eight straight goals that spilled into the second quarter and ended with the Golden Flyers in command at 9-1. Goals by O'Neill and Fallo opened the second quarter, then Wooters scored three in a row before Fisher's Tim Wagner interrupted the string.
Gray closed out the first-half scoring with an unassisted tally with less than four minutes to play to give the Golden Flyers a 10-2 lead.
Nazareth's lead swelled to 13-3 after third-period goals from Fallo, Wooters and Parrillo, the latter marking the second goal of his career.
Wooters scored his fifth goal of the game in the fourth quarter. Wooters also assisted Eiskant on the final goal of the day as he converted Nazareth's fourth man-up goal of the game.
ITHACA 16, STEVENS 12
The Ithaca College men's lacrosse team scored seven consecutive goals in the fourth quarter and rallied for a 16-12 win at Stevens Institute of Technology on Saturday at the DeBaun Athletic Complex. The victory allowed Ithaca to clinch the second seed for the upcoming Empire 8 playoffs and they will face Stevens in the semifinal round. Ithaca will host that semifinal game at 4 p.m. at Higgins Stadium.
Stevens led 5-4 after the first quarter. Ithaca used a three-goal run to close the second quarter to take a 7-6 lead at halftime.
The Ducks scored four straight goals to start the third quarter and led 10-7. Back-to-back Ithaca goals from James Manilla and Justin Bird made it 10-9, but the Ducks scored again with three seconds left and led 11-9 headed to the fourth quarter.
Ithaca dominated play in the fourth quarter. The Bombers won six of eight faceoffs, took 17 shots, and scored seven times.
The scoring run started with a goal from Steve Danylyshyn and closed with four goals by John Januszkiewicz and two from Jack Shumway.
Shumway had two goals and four assists in the game. Januszkiewicz finished with five goals and an assist. Scott Sidnam made 18 saves, matching his career-high single-game mark for saves. Jimmy Ryan had seven ground balls and Eli Gobrecht had five.
ELMIRA 10, Alfred State 4
The Elmira College men's lacrosse team (3-10) defeated Alfred State (3-14) 10-4 on the road today.
Skyler Pradelski'15 led on offense today with three goals while
Cameron Prior '17 made 15 saves in the win.
Six different Elmira players scored in today's action, including
Nevin Olney '18 who netted a career-high two goals in the win.
Pradelski scored the first goal of the game just 1:22 in to give EC a quick 1-0 lead. The Pioneers answered back just 1:20 later to even the game up at 1-1. The Purple and Gold then scored three straight goals to take a 4-1 lead with 7:37 left in the first quarter.
Anthony LaRusso '17, Pradelski, and
TJ Leach '16 all scored for the Soaring Eagles. Alfred netted one more goal in the first, with 1:08 left, to cut EC's lead to 4-2.
The Pioneers scored two more goals to tie the game back up at four apiece with 8:14 left in the second quarter.
Eric Hallman '15 found the back of the net with 1:30 left in the second quarter to put Elmira back in the lead, 5-4.
EC scored two goals in the third quarter to up Elmira's lead to 7-4 with Pradelski and
Ollie Heitkamp '18 netting goals in the quarter.
Olney scored back-to-back goals in the fourth quarter before LaRusso scored the game's final goal to give the Purple and Gold the 10-4 win.