The Morrisville State College men’s lacrosse team used an 11 goal first half to hand Route 20 rival Cazenovia College a 14-6 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) defeat Wednesday under the lights on Drake Field in Morrisville.
The Mustangs conclude the regular season with a 4-8 overall record, and boost their conference mark to 4-3. Cazenovia drops to 4-7 overall, 2-4 in NEAC action.
Six contributed to the scoring for Morrisville State, including a triple threat of Louie Geswaldo (Lafayette, N.Y.), Jeremy Beresovoy (Jamesville, N.Y.), and Brendan Shannon (Stanhope, N.J.) who netted three apiece.
John Sherlock (Tully, N.Y.) added two scores and assisting two others, while Casey Jean (Tully, N.Y.) and David Middlemore (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) rounded out goal scoring with two and one goals, respectively.
Chris Fiore (Staten Island, N.Y.) posted the win in net, turning away seven. Tyler Catalfano (Rochester, N.Y.) had one save in seven minutes of play.
Kyle Kingsley (Potsdam, N.Y.) led the Wildcat efforts with two scores, while teammate Cory Tilton (Central Square, N.Y.) added one and assisted three.
Pat Boyle (Syracuse, N.Y.) registered 17 saves in the loss between the pipes as Morrisville State held the significant 52-28 advantage in shots.
Morrisville State struck quick and early, netting the first score of the rainy night just 43 seconds into the contest, on an unassisted tally by Shannon. Within minutes, Middlemore made it a 2-0 game, before the Wildcats rallied and posted two straight, knotting the game at two midway through the opening quarter.
Trading scores within a minutes time, Beresovoy posted back-to-back tallies to give the Mustangs the 5-3 advantage after the first.
It was all Morrisville State in the second quarter, as Jean struck early with an unassisted tally just 59 seconds into the frame, and just seven seconds later, Shannon collected the faceoff win and was left wide open to rifle one down center for a 7-3 Mustang advantage.
Another tally by Jean at 9:31 increased the Morrisville State lead to five, but Morrisville State closed out the half with three straight scores, for the six goal quarter, and a commanding 11-3 halftime lead.
In the third, Geswaldo tallied a behind the back wrap around score for the 12-3 lead, but a three minute penalty by Fiore turned the tables and led to three straight Cazenovia scores, making it a 13-6 game heading into the final stanza.
Sherlock posted the lone score for the Mustangs in the fourth quarter, with an assist to Devin Tokarz (Long Lake, N.Y.), giving Morrisville State the conference victory.
The Mustangs won the ground ball battle 40-31, and dominated the center stripe, winning 20 of 24 face-offs, including 13-of-15 by Shannon. Shannon also tallied a team best 12 ground balls on the night.
The Mustangs will await conference tournament selection on Sunday.