Utica, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team lost at home to SUNY Brockport on Sunday, 13-8. The loss brings UC's record to 1-2 in the early goings of the 2017 season.
 
Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) finished the game with a team-high five points as he netted three goals and dished out two assists. Teammate Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) contributed with two goals and one assist. Jake Bratek (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) tallied one goal and one assist while Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) added two assists of his own. Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) and Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) each netted one goal for the Pioneers in the contest.
 
The Pioneers took an early 1-0 lead just 41 seconds into the game as Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) scored the first goal of the afternoon. The Brockport Golden Eagles came back to take a 2-1 lead with 7:25 remaining in the first quarter. Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) accepted a pass from Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) which resulted in the second Pioneer goal, tying the game up at 2-2 with 5:19 left before the second quarter. Brockport would go on to score twice before the quarter ended, making the score 4-2 at the end of the first. The Golden Eagles registered two goals in the second quarter to increase their lead to 6-2 with 4:26 on the clock before halftime. UC's Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) was able to record his first goal of the season after receiving a pass from Castiglia to make the score 6-3 at halftime.  
 
Utica's Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) buried a shot with 10:04 on the clock for the first goal of the third quarter, as Castiglia made the assist. Yelich fed Castiglia in order to score the fifth Pioneer goal of the afternoon with 6:31 remaining before the fourth quarter. However, Brockport kept attacking and was able to score four goals in the third quarter to make the score 10-5 heading into the final 15 minutes. The Pioneers did score back-to-back goals in the beginning of the final quarter to make the score 10-7 with 9:45 left in the contest. However, the Golden Eagles answered with two consecutive goals of their own. Castiglia scored one more goal in the game with 3:36 left on the clock. However, there was not enough time for Utica to mount a comeback as Brockport held on for the five goal victory.
 
Nicolaus and Andrew Davi (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) both caused two turnovers and scooped up three ground balls for UC. Rusty Dessert (Islip, NY/Islip) and Nick Finnegan (Bayshore, NY/Islip) both grabbed three ground balls in the game. Goalkeeper Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) was able to tie his season-high with 12 saves in the contest to go with his three ground balls and two caused turnovers.
 
SUNY Brockport was led by Jake Giudice's five points from three goals and two assists. Pete Barilla also played well, recording a game-high of four goals and one assist. Brendan Fitzgerald finished with one goal and a game-high four assists in the contest while teammate Liam Cannon netted three goals for the Golden Eagles. Goalkeeper Connor Nowak earned the victory and tallied 10 saves while in net. Brockport improves to 2-3 on the season after the win.
 
The Pioneers will return to action on Wednesday as they will host Keuka College. The game is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium.