MARCY, N.Y. – The SUNYIT Men's Lacrosse Team (1-10, 1-4 NEAC) picked up their first win Wednesday evening, besting the Fighting Tigers of SUNY Cobleskill (1-10, 1-4 NEAC) by a score of 13-8. The Wildcats, who have struggled to score at times this season, erupted for 51 shots in the game.
The first minute of the game belied the final result, as the Tigers stunned the home Wildcats with 2 quick goals in the first 55 seconds of play. The Tigers won the faceoff then went the length of the field for a Garrett Petit goal just 27 seconds into the game. It was one of two Petit scores on the day, and would be followed less than 30 seconds later by a Max Sprauer strike on a nice move to the cage by the freshman.
SUNYIT responded quickly, as Nicholas Levanti (Clayville, N.Y. / New Hartford Sr High) scored the first of his season-high 3 goals with 13:24 remaining in the first quarter. Levanti had a stellar night, picking up the hat-trick on 9 shots while grabbing 4 groundballs.
After an Adam Reynolds (Johnson City, N.Y. / Johnson City High School) goal evened the score at 2-2, the Wildcats took the lead for the first time on an outstanding pass-and-shoot by seniors Tyler Serva (Chenango Forks, N.Y. / Chenango Forks) and Brett Gifford (Cazenovia, N.Y. / Cazenovia). After surveying the field from behind the cage, Serva rifled a bullet of a pass to Gifford, who had found an open spot about 12 yards in front of the goal. Gifford somehow caught the speedy pass and let fly a perfect shot to the lower left side of the net, giving SUNYIT a 3-2 lead.
The Fighting Tigers would respond immediately, however, as David Meyers won the ensuing faceoff before driving it all the way down himself and scoring, evening the count at 3-3.
From there it was all SUNYIT, as the Wildcats went on a 4-1 run to end the half, taking a 7-4 lead into the locker room. In the third period SUNYIT extended its advantage, shutting out the visitors 4-0 to take an 11-4 lead and essentially put the game away.
Three Wildcats recorded hat-tricks on the day, as Levanti was joined by seniors Adam Reynolds (Johnson City, N.Y. / Johnson City High School) and Jon Eguren (Vittoria, Spain / Cicero-North Syracuse). SUNYIT faceoff man Tyler Serva also had a big day, scoring twice and leading the team with 3 assists. The senior midfielder also had a team-high 5 groundballs.
Despite losing the faceoff war (Cobleskill was 15 of 22 on the game), the Wildcats were able to gain the upper hand with great defense, recording 10 caused turnovers and frustrating the Fighting Tigers especially in transition. SUNYIT held the Tigers to just 13-of-24 on clears, while SUNYIT went a fairly efficient 15-for-18.
Having a particularly good day on defense for the Wildcats was Shane Joswick (New York Mills, N.Y. / MVCC). The midfielder led SUNYIT in caused turnovers with 4, delivering several good checks that resulted in groundballs for the Wildcats.
Also contributing points for SUNYIT were Andrew Wurz (Utica, N.Y. / Notre Dame Jr/Sr High School) who recorded a goal, and Andre Shattell (Syracuse, N.Y. / Henninger High School) who had a couple nice finds for 2 assists, while also picking up 4 groundballs.
Chris Magee and Garrett Petitt led the visitors with 2 goals apiece. David Meyers had perhaps the most impressive all-around game, however, recording a goal and 3 assists while going 12-for-19 in faceoffs.
The Wildcats will look to stay in the win column as they travel next to SUNY Canton. Game time is scheduled for this Saturday, April 19th at 1:00 pm.