OFFICIAL HOME OF UTICA COLLEGE ATHLETICS

MEN'S LAX FALLS TO NATIONALLY-RANKED NO. 13 GENESEO

Men's Lacrosse

Written By

Gil Burgmaster

Release Date

03/05/2008
[Go to UC Sports News]

BOX SCORE

Utica, NY – The Utica College men’s lacrosse team lost to visiting and nationally-ranked No. 13 Geneseo State 15-6 in the home-opener for the Pioneers at Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

With the loss, the Pioneers drop to 0-2 overall, while the Knights improved to 1-0 in their first game of the 2008 campaign.

UC came out of the gates hot when freshman midfielder Michael Schepis (IHC/Watertown) netted his first collegiate goal 12:05 into the first quarter. Schepis’s unassisted goal gave UC a quick 1-0 lead and early command of the contest.

Geneseo responded with nine unanswered goals, led by junior attacker Tom Costanza (Webster/Webster Schroeder), who tallied three of the nine goals and senior attacker Mike Pizzuto (Amherst/Amherst), who assisted on four of the Knights first nine goals. Freshman attacker Craig Lange (Syracuse/CBA) added two goals of his own and the Knights cruised into halftime with a commanding 9-1 lead.

UC netted three goals in the third stanza, including two from sophomore Michael Bulger (IHC/Watertown) within a span of just 17 seconds to cut the Knights lead to 10-4. Freshman Ryan Schmidt (Whitesboro/Whitesboro) netted his first collegiate goal with 3:49 left in the third quarter and the Pioneers found themselves down by just five goals.

The five goal deficit was the closest the Pioneers would get as Geneseo’s Steve Hutton (Webster/Webster Thomas) and Costanza hooked up for two goals with less than a minute to go in the third quarter and the Knights strolled into the final period with a 12-5 lead. Hutton scored the first, assisted by Costanza and then Hutton returned the favor ten seconds later when he found a streaking Costanza for his fourth goal of the contest.

Bulger added his third and final unassisted goal of the evening with 3:50 left in the contest to close out the scoring for the Pioneers.

UC earned the advantage in the face-off battle, winning 13-of-25 total face-offs, led by senior Josh Turner, who won a team-best eight total. Turner scooped up a team-high six ground balls for the Pioneers, while his face-off counterpart Erik Baranowski (Liverpool/Liverpool), won a game-high 12 face-offs and grabbed six ground balls for the Knights. Geneseo out shot the Pioneers 38-22 on the day and they won the ground ball war, 34-29.

Eddie Watts (Mt. Kisco/Horace Greeley) stopped eight shots in net for the Knights en route to earning his first victory of the season, while freshman goalie Travis Wright (Watertown/Watertown) stopped 15 shots for UC.

The Pioneers return to action against visiting Plattsburgh State on Saturday at 4:00 p.m.

                           --- www.ucpioneers.com ---

Printable Version | Bookmark this Page