Rochester, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team jumped out to a 5-1 first quarter lead but could not hold on as host St. John Fisher College rallied to earn an 11-8 victory in Empire 8 Conference action on Saturday afternoon at Growney Stadium. Utica senior
Alex Finnegan (Bay Shore, NY/Islip) and freshman
Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) each registered two goals and added one assist for the Pioneers. Sophomore
Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) added two goals for Utica.
Utica's record moved to 2-11 overall and 1-5 in Empire 8 play. UC returns to the turf on Wednesday when it hosts Hartwick College for conference play at 4 p.m. Fisher improved to 7-7 on the year with the victory.
Utica's
Matthew Miller (Geneva, NY/Geneva) opened the scoring on the day to give the Pioneers a 1-0 lead at the 8:42 marker of the first. Fisher answered to knot the score at 1-1 before the Pioneers rattled off four consecutive goals to take a 5-1 lead by the end of first quarter. Finnegan added two goals in the stretch while Castiglia and Desveaux each added a goal of their own. Miller and Finnegan also added an assist each in the first quarter. Finnegan's second goal of the game came with just three seconds left on the first quarter clock.
Fisher then rattled off ten consecutive goals over the course of the second and third quarters to take an 11-5 lead with 2:02 left in the third quarter.
UC rallied with three goals in the fourth quarter but it proved to be too late as the Pioneers lost by three, 11-8.
Patrick Mulligan (Commack, NY/Commack), Desveaux and Castiglia each registered a fourth quarter tally for Utica.
Matt Werkmeister (Chaska, MN/Chaska) picked up three ground balls for Utica, while
Aric Freischlag (Wilson, NY/Wilson) added three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
Brandon Souza (Watervliet, NY/Shaker) chipped in with a team-high five ground balls.
Utica's
Andrew DiOrio (Greenlawn, NY/Harborfields) made three saves but allowed nine goals before
Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) came on in relief and stopped five shots in the final 20:50 of the contest. Fisher's Tanner Swan stopped 11 shots in the victory.
Nick Papayanakos recorded a game-high six goals for the Cardinals. Fisher registered 36 shots compared to the Pioneers 32 on the day while each team posted 14 successful clears.
