MORRISVILLE, N.Y. – Host Morrisville State College men's lacrosse used five unanswered goals in the third quarter Wednesday afternoon to pull away from rival Keuka College as they collected the 15-6 North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) win on Drake Field in Morrisville.
The win is the fourth straight for the Mustangs as they improve to 5-7 overall on the season, and remain undefeated in conference play with a 4-0 NEAC record. Keuka drops to 5-3 on the season, 1-1 within NEAC play.
Junior Nick Geswaldo (Lafayette, N.Y.) paced the hosts with five goals, adding two assists, while Chris Dovi (Cortland, N.Y.) added a hat trick with his three scores while assisting two others.
Brad Biggs (Tully, N.Y.) had a huge day for the Mustangs as well, collecting five points behind his two goals and three assists, while four additional teammates each posted tallies.
Daniel Sherlock (Tully, N.Y.) collected the win in net, making four saves in 54 minutes of action, before senior Paul Gates (West Winfield, N.Y.) finished out the final six minutes, making two stops.
Morrisville State held the 42-20 advantage in shots, and edged the visitors in the ground ball battle, 33-23 behind eight pick-ups from junior Shawn Walberger (Fulton, N.Y.) who also collected 10 wins from the center X.
The Mustangs dominated the face-off, winning a collective 17-of-24, with Nate McCormick (Cortland, N.Y.) adding five and Josh Palin (Lafayette, N.Y.) two more wins at the center line.
Keuka had five net tallies on the day, including Christopher Ryan who posted the first score of the contest at the 10:36 mark to give the visitors the 1-0 edge.
That was short lived, however, as Morrisville State collected two straight within an eight second span, the first from Biggs who notched the behind the back score off the feed from Dovi at the 8:36 mark. A mere eight seconds later, Walberger picked up the ball after winning the face-off and streaked down the center of the box to put home the tally for the 2-1 Mustang lead.
Keuka evened the contest three minutes later with a score from Kasey Olsen, but that again was short lived, as Morrisville State collected two straight and finished the quarter with a tally from Dovi for the 5-3 opening quarter lead.
In the second, the Mustangs outscored the Wolves 4-1 behind two from Geswaldo and one each from Dovi and Bryan Cline (Cicero, N.Y.), carrying the 9-4 advantage into the halftime break.
It was all Morrisville State in the third as they overwhelmed Keuka with 10 shots, finding the back of the net five total times to extend their lead to 10, before putting the game away in the fourth with an early quarter score.
Joe Piedigrossi (Cortland, N.Y.) kicked off the Mustangs in the third with a tally off the feed from Geswaldo at the 11:55 mark, before Dovi added his third of the afternoon on the extra man 34 ticks later.
Geswaldo posted back to back goals just over a minute apart, before Eric Fisher (Nutley, N.J.) completed the quarter with a tally off a Mike Ready (Lafayette, N.Y.) assist.
Geswaldo posted the lone Mustang score, his 30th of the season, in the fourth.
David Gullen (Baldwinsville, N.Y.) played a critical role for the Mustangs defensive unit on the day, collecting four ground balls and causing three turnovers. Brendan Boles (Goshen, N.Y.) added two caused turnovers and picked up three ground balls.
Morrisville State returns to the field Saturday, traveling to Medaille College for a 5:30 p.m. conference start.
Morrisville State College's curricula are enriched with applied learning and pave the way for opportunity at both the Morrisville and Norwich campuses. An action-oriented, interactive learning lab, the college is a national leader in technology and has been lauded for its exemplary, innovative and effective community service programs.
The college was ranked among the Best Regional Colleges in the North by U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges 2018 issue and was also recognized in the Top Public Schools, Regional Colleges North in the 2018 Best Colleges rankings. For more information about Morrisville State College, visit www.morrisville.edu.
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