Men’s lacrosse team drops home finale to Nazareth
4/22/09

ALFRED, NY -- The Alfred University men’s lacrosse team lost their last home game of the season, dropping a 13-6 decision to visiting Nazareth College Wednesday afternoon at Merrill Field.

The Saxons played a competitive first half, with Nazareth holding a 5-4 edge at the halftime break. The Saxons tied the game at 5-5 midway through the third before allowing three unanswered Nazareth goals. AU freshman attack Paul Eaton (Buffalo, NY/St. Francis) scored on an assist from freshmen attack Andrew Belica (Orchard Park, NY/Orchard Park) at the 11:57 mark of the fourth quarter to make it 8-6 before Nazareth scored the game’s final five goals to pull away.

The Saxons (8-6, 1-6 Empire 8) did well on the power play, scoring on three of seven extra-man chances. Nazareth converted only one of three man-up opportunities, but held advantages in shots (39-24) and groundballs (32-24). Nazareth dominated on face-offs, with R.J. Gringeri (game-high 10 groundballs) winning 17 of 23 draws against four different Saxons.

Junior attack Mike Russo (Mattydale, NY/Cicero-North Syracuse) and sophomore attack Marc Zoyhofski (Blasdell, NY/Frontier) both scored twice and picked up three groundballs for the Saxons. Belica led Alfred with five points on a goal and a game-high four assists

Joe Jacobs-Ferderbar paced Nazareth (7-6, 4-3 Empire 8) with five goals, while C.J. Estes and Mark DeCirce each tallied two goals and an assist. R.J. Gringeri picked up a game-high 10 groundballs for Nazareth.

Sophomore Adam Schutz (Geneva, NY/Geneva) picked up eight saves in goal and grabbed a team-high nine groundballs for AU, while Nazareth goalie Todd Dermody tallied six saves.

Alfred is in action next on Saturday, April 25, at 1 p.m. when they close out their season at Hartwick.