by The University at Albany men’s lacrosse team won its second straight game to open America East play with a 12-7 victory over Binghamton on Saturday at Bearcats Sports Complex.
Jakob Patterson (Senca Nation) racked up eight points (six assists) while Tehoka Nanticoke (Mohawk) and Corey Yunker each had a hat trick for the Great Danes, who now have scored 29 goals over their past two games to start league play.
Nate Siekierski made a career-high 17 saves, including six in the first quarter, to help UAlbany open a 5-1 lead after one period.
“Give a lot of credit to Nate,” said Scott Marr, UAlbany’s head coach. “I thought Nate played really well in the goal, 17 saves. He had eight saves in the first half and was outstanding. That really kept us going.”
UAlbany now heads into a mid-week non-conference matchup with Harvard on Wednesday with a chance to win its third straight and get back to .500 overall.
Binghamton opened the scoring less than two minutes into the game, but the Great Danes answered with a six-goal run spanning the first and second quarters.
Nanticoke, who now is just one point shy of 100 for his career, got the spurt started with 12:02 left in the first quarter. He scored his second to make it 4-1 when he barreled over a defender on his way to the cage, then whipped a shot high into the net. His third goal, off an assist from Patterson, made it 6-1.
UAlbany led 6-3 at halftime and got the first goal of the second half when Laffin scored his first of the game man-up.
The Bearcats got as close as two, at 7-5, with 7:00 to go in the third, but UAlbany drew away with a five-goal run. The spurt was highlighted by two goals from Yunker – including a behind-the-back shot off a feed from Patterson – that made the score 11-5 and then 12-5.
Sean Eccles and Kyle Casey also scored a goal apiece for UAlbany.
“A lot of good things,” Marr said. “Corey Yunker off the bench having three goals, Tehoka having three (goals) and one (assist) gave us a spark early, and Jakob had two (goals) and six (assists). We’re making progress.”
