UTICA, NY – The Utica College men's lacrosse team outscored visiting Alfred University 9-4 in a stretch of 23:31 in the second half to rally for an Empire 8 Conference victory, 16-15, on the turf at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Saturday. The Pioneers trailed 8-7 at the half before exploding with five of the first six goals in the second half on their way to the key conference victory.

Utica senior Brickman House (Oneida, WI/Pulaski) led the Pioneers with a team-high five points on two goals and three assists. House remains the team leader with a career-high 39 points this season. Utica's Jake Bratek (Syracuse, NY/Jamesville-Dewitt) and Nick Yelich (Lancaster, NY/Depew) each chipped in with three goals and one assist, while Dominic Castiglia (Liverpool, NY/Liverpool) and Liam Wheatley (Rochester, NY/Webster Schroeder) added two goal apiece.

UC has now won five straight contests, improved to 6-3 at home, and is now 7-3 overall on the season.  The Pioneers are 2-1 in Empire 8 play headed into a key three game road trip at Nazareth, Canton and Stevens. Alfred's record dropped to 4-6 overall and 0-4 in Empire 8 play. The Pioneers also snapped a two game losing streak against the Saxons.

Nick Finnegan (Bayshore, NY/Islip) stepped up in the second half and finished the day winning 14-of-30 face offs while also scooping up five ground balls and adding one goal for the Pioneers. Ryan Desveaux (Bowmanville, ONT/St. Stephen Catholic), Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) and Sam Davi (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) also each netted one goal for the home team.

The teams battled to a 3-3 draw after 15 minutes of action. Desveaux got UC on the board first with a goal just 20 seconds into the contest before the Saxons responded with two straight to take a 2-1 lead with 5:18 left in the first quarter. Bratek and Wheatley each added a goal in the final 4:30 of the first to knot the score at 3-3.

Alfred pushed its lead to 6-4 midway through the second quarter before the Pioneers rattled off three consecutive goals from the sticks of Castiglia (two) and Nicolaus.  Alfred closed out the half with two unanswered goals to take an 8-7 lead into the half.

Utica took over with the first three goals of the third quarter to earn a 10-8 lead they would not relinquish. Yelich, Bratek and House netted consecutive goals in a span of less than one minute to push the Pioneers to a two goal advantage.

Yelich and Finnegan then added goals just nine seconds apart to give Utica a 12-9 lead with 2:31 left in the third quarter.

Utica opened the fourth quarter with four of the first six goals to take a commanding 16-12 lead with 4:03 remaining. The Saxons were able to notch three goals in the final 1:47 of the contest, but time ran out on the Saxon comeback as the Pioneers earn their second Empire 8 win of the season.

UC out shot the visitors 42-35 in the evenly matched contest.  The Pioneers forced 29 turnovers and won the ground ball game by the slimmest of margins (35-33).

Utica goalie Parker Smith (Dexter, NY/General Brown) stopped nine shots in the victory. Drew Gardner and Chris Bucciarelli combined for 15 saves as they split time in between the pipes for Alfred.

Senior Rusty Dessert (Islip, NY/Islip) caused four turnovers and scooped up six ground balls for the Pioneers. Sam Davi (New Hartford, NY/New Hartford) also added five ground balls, while Ryan Jordan (Cicero, NY/Cicero North Syracuse) and Tyler Nicolaus (Rome, NY/Rome Free Academy) registered three caused turnovers over three ground balls each.