Box Score

Elmira, NY -- The Elmira College men's lacrosse team ended the 2014 season on a high note, defeating visiting Alfred State University, 22-3. On a day where the eight members of the Class of 2014 were honored pre-game, it was only fitting that seven of the eight seniors registered points, including a game-high eight points from David Evert '14.
 
Evert led the Soaring Eagles with one goal and seven assists for his eight points, solidifying his place amongst the best to ever don an Elmira College men's lacrosse uniform in the process. After notching his seventh assist with 11:53 to play in the fourth quarter, the Niagara Falls, NY native became Elmira's all-time leader in assists with 92, as well as EC's third all-time leader in career points with 168. Additionally, that assist was also Evert's 29th of the season, giving him the most assists in single-season history, eclipsing the 28 assists that Mike Haddeland '00 had in the 1997-98 season.
 
Also reaching his own career milestone this afternoon was Brady Richards '14. Richards, who began his career as a goalie, put the exclamation point on his impressive final season with six goals and one assist for seven total points against the Pioneers. The seven points gave him 48 points in 2014 and brought his career point total to 100, becoming the 15th player in EC history to reach 100 points.
 
Joining Evert and Richards in the scoring column were fellow seniors Jackson Correia '14, Christian Archambeault '14, Dustin Gatt '14, Erik Bertsch '14, and Sam Gagne '14. The only senior not to record a point was defenseman Delroy Kern '14, however, Kern did impact the game in other ways, picking up two ground balls and causing one turnover.
 
Correia was just off the pace of Evert and Richards, scoring five goals and handing out one assist for six total points. Correia, who joined the 100-point club in EC's last game against Stevens Tech, also corralled seven ground balls and caused two turnovers in today's contest. Archambeault had five points on three goals and two assists, while Gatt was close behind with four points, scoring two goals and dishing out two assists. Bertsch and Gagne, two of EC's three long stick midfielders, got in on the offense, tallying two points each on the afternoon. Bertsch scored two goals, just his second and third of the season, while Gagne recorded two assists, his first two points of 2014. Bertsch was extremely strong in the faceoff circle, winning 20 of his 25 faceoff attempts, and also scooped up 16 ground balls, just one shy of an EC single-game record.
 
The Soaring Eagles scored early and often against Alfred State, scoring nine goals in the opening quarter. Correia kicked things off with EC's first score of the afternoon just 2:25 into the first quarter and the Purple and Gold never looked back. Quick strikes were a common theme in the first quarter as Elmira had two instances of goals being scored within eight seconds of each other. Gatt and Richards went back-to-back just eight seconds apart to put EC ahead 3-0 and then Correia and Bertsch followed a few minutes later with goals separated by just seven seconds to make it a 5-0 game.
 
Evert would score his only goal of the game with 5:42 to play in the first quarter to put EC ahead 6-0 and then resorted back to being the field general as he added his third assist of the opening quarter on an Archambeault goal just 35 seconds later. Richards closed out the first quarter scoring with his second of the afternoon 1:20 before the end of the first quarter.
 
After the nine-goal outburst in the first quarter, the Soaring Eagles let off the gas a bit in the second quarter, scoring just one goal as EC focused more on controlling possession. Correia made it 10 straight scores for Elmira but that would be it for Elmira scoring in the first half as the Soaring Eagles would take a 10-2 lead into the break after giving up a pair of Pioneer goals.
 
The final 30 minutes of play was dominated by the Purple and Gold, less the one additional goal Alfred State scored at the 10:40 mark of the third quarter. Richards scored three times in the third quarter with his final goal coming with 3:12 left on the clock. That goal, which was Richards' sixth of the afternoon, gave the senior his 100th career point and earned him a warm reception from his brother, Myles Richards '17, and the rest of his teammates. Evert assisted on three of the five goals EC scored in the third quarter, two scored by Richards and another scored by Gatt, leaving him just one assist shy of becoming Elmira's all-time leader.
 
That assist would come on EC's fourth goal of the fourth quarter and subsequently end Evert's day on the field. The Purple and Gold scored seven total goals in the final frame, two by Correia, one by Archambeault, and one by Bertsch, but some other faces got involved as well. Newcomer, Anthony LaRusso '17 scored two goals and assisted on another, while fellow rookie, PJ Tessier '17, in just his third game with the team, recorded an assist. Tessier's assist came on EC's final goal of the day, which featured career firsts on both the passing and the receiving end. Not only was Tessier's assist the first point of his career, the goal, which was scored by Carter Shinkaruk '16, was also the first point of Shinkaruk's career.  
 
With EC comfortably ahead 22-3 following Shinkaruk's goal, the Soaring Eagles would just pass the ball around the perimeter for nearly the entire 3:35 left in regulation as the Purple and Gold closed out their third win of the season.
 
Today's game marks the final contest of the 2014 season for the men's lacrosse team as well as the final game for the eight members of the Class of 2014.