Box Score
Albany, N.Y. – Earlier this evening, the #2 men's lacrosse team took on the Golden Knights of the College of Saint Rose. The Panthers notched three goals in all but one frame to while holding the hosts to just a handful of goals to come away with their seventh straight win, 11-5. In victory, the Panthers remain undefeated with a 7-0 overall record, 5-0 mark in conference play while the Golden Knights drop to 2-7, 2-3 NE-10.
The win marks the best start in the history of Adelphi men's lacrosse as no other team began the season 7-0. The only other team to come close was the 1967 squad that got off to a 6-0 start.
The Panthers had points from 10 different players and were led by
Nick Watson's one goal, three assist performance.
Salvatore Tuttle chipped in with two goals and one assist while
Ikerson Hopper and
Vinny Coiro had an even split of four goals.
Gregory Puskuldjian and
Rashad Cureton each went 5-9 on faceoffs and combined for 11 of Adelphi's 36 ground balls.
In cage,
Eric Janssen and
Aidan Bennardo split the action evenly. Janssen picked up the win as he allowed just two goals and made five saves while Bennardo closed out the second half with five saves as well and letting just three get by him.
For the Golden Knights, Kevin Fleming accounted for three of St. Rose's five goals while Brett McAuilffe and Kris Miller each registered one goal and one assist. Cage minder Nick Longo registered 13 saves but allowed 11 goals in the loss.
As a team, the Panthers out-shot the Golden Knights, 38-29 and put more shots on cage, 24-25, scooped up more ground balls, 36-30, won 10 faceoffs compared to the hosts' eight, forced 20 turnovers and was near perfect on clear attempts, 23-25.
Brian Prendergast put in Adelphi's first goal of the game at the 12:11 mark of the first on an unassisted play.
Ikerson Hopper followed up with back-to-back scores on assists from Tuttle and Watson to make it a 3-0 affair at the end of the first quarter.
The Golden Knights capitalized on a man up opportunity in the early stages of the second and then closed the gap to 3-2 after Fleming beat Janssen for his first goal of the game. Within 17 seconds of each other, efforts from
Jamie McAndrew and
Kevin Kennedy quickly grew the lead back up to three at 5-2 by halftime.
St. Rose hung tough and kicked of the third with two unanswered goals to make it a one goal game once again. However, the Panthers wasted no time responding with two man-up goals from Tuttle and a Coiro score with help from teammate
Luke Spitzer to make it an 8-4 game by the conclusion of the third frame.
Watson and Coiro struck once again in the fourth to give the Brown and Gold a comfortable six goal lead. Fleming and
Cory Stavis exchanged goals within the final four minutes but time would run out in favor of the Panthers.
The #2 Stickmen are back in action on Saturday afternoon when they host the #5 Dolphins of Le Moyne College at 4pm.
