Utica, NY – The Elmira College Men's Lacrosse team dropped a tightly contested game, 20-16, Saturday afternoon in Utica. The win improves the Pioneers to 8-6 overall and 3-3 in conference play, while the loss drops the Soaring Eagles to 3-8 overall and 0-5 in Empire 8 competition.
Utica came out of the gates on fire scoring six goals in the first quarter, while holding EC scoreless. Ben Winkler scored the first four goals for the Pioneers. The Purple and Gold showed new energy in the second quarter scoring three unanswered goals in the first two minutes, with two coming from
Jackson Correia '14 (Simsbury, CT -- The Masters School) and the other from
Mike DeMar '15 (Macedon, NY -- Palmyra Macedon). Utica would score five more times in the second quarter compared to just three for Elmira as the Pioneers took an 11-6 advantage into halftime.
Utica found the back of the net twice out of halftime to extend its lead to 13-6, but Elmira continued to fight scoring four of the next five goals to cut the deficit to four at 14-10. The Pioneers responded countering with three straight score to increase the lead to seven once again. EC trimmed the margin to five at one point and finally got it as close is four late, but was unable to make a comeback.
Correia paced the Soaring Eagles with a breakout performance tallying seven goals and one assist.
TJ White '12 (Collegeville, PA -- Methacton) finished with eight points as well, recording four goals four assists and four ground balls.
DeMar registered two goals and one assist, while
Dustin Gatt '14 (Welland, ONT -- Notre Dame College) led EC in ground balls (8) and
Barrett Gast '12 (Orchard Park, NY -- Orchard Park) forced a team-high six turnovers.
Mike Knowlton '14 (Manchester, ME -- Maranacook) made seven saves in 52 minutes between the pipes for Elmira, while
Brady Richards '14 (Cortice, ONT -- The Hill Academy) played the final eight minutes in net.
The EC Men's Lacrosse team returns to action Wednesday when it hosts Ithaca College for a conference tilt starting at 4:00 p.m. on Campus Field.
