Rochester, NY - The Utica College men's lacrosse team fell to Nazareth College on Wednesday by a score of 21-11. The Pioneers now own a record of 7-4 overall and 2-2 in the Empire 8.
Naz struck first blood as it scored just two and a half minutes into the first quarter. Utica answered back with goals from
Jake Bratek (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) and
Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic) to take a 2-1 lead with 9:45 left before the second quarter. The Golden Flyers scored five more goals before the period ended as UC was able to add goals from
Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) and
Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy). Early on in the second quarter,
Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and
Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) both netted one goal before Naz answered back with three straight scores. The Pioneers entered halftime trailing 12-8.
The third quarter was controlled by the Golden Flyers as they went on a tear, scoring six consecutive goals.
Nick Finnegan (Bayshore, NY/Islip) was able to put one in the back of the net before the quarter ended, but UC fell behind 18-9 going into the final fifteen minutes. The Golden Flyers scored three more goals in the early goings of the final quarter making the score 21-9 with 10:26 remaining in the game.
Jake Bratek (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) added two more goals to his tab on the day, as Nazareth walked away with the ten goal victory.
Bratek led the Pioneers with four total points on three goals and one assist. Wheatley contributed two goals and one assist while teammate Desveaux added two goals. Castiglia and House both recorded one goal and one assist. Goalkeeper
Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) faced 59 shots in the contest and made 18 total saves.
Harrison Bower (Northport, NY/Kings Park) played just over eight minutes in the net to relieve Smith, and made two saves without allowing one goal.
Nazareth's Anthoney Basile led the team to victory with a game-high 11 points on seven goals and four assists. Paul Walter contributed four goals and one assist in the game. Joe Eiskant finished with three goals and one assist, while Hunter Burdick added one goal to go with his three assists. Goalies Alex Winkler, Rick Kronenwett, and Andrew Ieahey comibined for a total of 15 saves in the contest.
The Pioneers will return to action on Saturday, as they will travel to face SUNY Canton. The game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.
