by The University at Albany men’s lacrosse team won its third straight game to open America East play, defeating Hartford, 14-10, on Saturday, March 30, at Tom & Mary Casey Stadium.
Tehoka Nanticoke (Mohawk) and Jakob Patterson (Seneca) posted six points apiece, with Nanticoke scoring five goals, including a spectacular behind-the-back shot in the fourth quarter. Patterson dished five assists, with three of them leading to Nanticoke goals.
Austin Jones also won 18 faceoffs for the Great Danes, who now have won three of their past four overall to climb within a game of .500.
Jack Burgmaster (three), Kyle Casey (two), Ashton Bradley and Sean Eccles also scored for UAlbany, while Nate Siekierski stopped 10 shots in net, including three in the fourth quarter to help preserve the victory.
“(Tehoka) moved the ball well; he got the ball from other people,” said Scott Marr, UAlbany’s head coach. “If we can get combinations like that, where he can have five,Sean Eccles can have five like he did against Harvard, we’ll start creeping into the direction we want to be. Fourteen goals is fourteen goals. That’s a good number to put up on the board, and we’re spreading it around.”
UAlbany played with the lead virtually the entire game after Casey opened the scoring with 8:22 left in the first quarter. The Great Danes went on to lead 3-0 before Hartford scored the next three to draw even.
After UAlbany took a 6-5 lead to halftime, Hartford tied the score only once more, making it 6-6 with a goal 34 seconds into the third quarter.
But the Great Danes answered with three straight to go ahead 9-6, a run that concluded with Bradley getting his first career goal on a shot in transition from about 12 yards out.
Nanticoke’s highlight-reel goal gave the Great Danes a 12-9 lead with 9:24 left. He backed down a defender, then flung a shot high over his right shoulder to bring the crowd of 2,113 at Casey Stadium to its feet.
Nanticoke and Burgmaster closed out the scoring with goals in the final five minutes.
