Oneonta, NY – The Elmira College Men's Lacrosse team played hard, but was not able to complete the comeback against conference foe Hartwick College Saturday afternoon in an 18-13 loss in Oneonta. The win improves the Hawks to 5-5 overall and 1-2 in Empire 8 play, while the loss drops the Soaring Eagles to 3-5 overall and 0-2 in conference competition.
 
In the first quarter it was a back and forth battle as each team looked to dominate the offensive side. The Hawks got on the board first scoring a man-up goal within the first three minutes of play. However, the Soaring Eagles responded back at the 4:06 mark with Dustin Gatt '14 (Welland, ONT -- Notre Dame College) scoring an unassisted goal to tie things up at one. Hartwick then went on to score three more goals in the quarter, while EC  scored four more goals at the end of the quarter to bring it to 5-4. In the second quarter Hartwick started to control the game and only allowed Elmira to score twice, while the Hawks scored six times to bring it to a 10-7 halftime.
 
In the second half the Purple and Gold tried to put more pressure on the Hawks by causing turnovers and playing tough defense. However, Hartwick did not give in and outscored EC 8-6 in the second half to prevail to an 18-13 victory. Rick Acorn '12 (Barrie, ONT -- Innisdale) and Christian Archambeault '14 (Horseheads, NY -- Horseheads) were the leaders of the Soaring Eagle attack combing for eight of the 13 goals. Also playing well were TJ White '12 (Collegeville, PA -- Methacton), David Evert '14 (Niagara Falls, NY -- Niagara Wheatfield), Jackson Correia '14 (Simsbury, CT -- The Masters School) and Brady Richards '14 (Cortice, ONT -- The Hill Academy). White recorded a game-high of 11 ground balls and won 12 face-offs, while Evert tied a game-high of five assists, one assist and four ground balls. Correia chipped in to the offense with two goals, an assist and a ground ball, while Richards recorded a goal, an assist and two ground balls.
 
Dave Bucchino '13 (Cedar Grove, NJ -- Bow) started the game for EC playing for 2:39 and making two saves, while Mike Knowlton '14 (Manchester, ME -- Maranacook) played a little over 57 minutes and made 10 saves in the loss. Matthew Galvin and Carl Lengel split time in net for the Hawks. Galvin was credited with the win for the Hawks making six saves in 45 minutes of play, while Lengel played 15 minutes giving up five goals.     
 
The EC Men's Lacrosse team returns to action Saturday, April 14^th when it hosts Alfred University on Campus Field at 1:00 p.m.