Elmira College (3-3, 1-1 Empire 8) vs. Alfred State (2-7)
Saturday, April 2, 2016 | 1:00 p.m. | Elmira, NY - Campus Field
Live Coverage | Twitter: @ECSoaringEagles

Elmira, NY -- Coming off of its first Empire 8 Conference victory, the Elmira College men's lacrosse team will return to Campus Field on Saturday, April 2nd, to host Alfred State in a non-conference game at 1:00 p.m. The Soaring Eagles will honor the members of the Class of 2016 in a special ceremony before the opening faceoff.

Last Time Out
The Soaring Eagles played a tight contest against Houghton College on the road Wednesday night, coming away with an 8-6 victory over their conference foe. Elmira never trailed in the back-and-forth contest, but the Highlanders clawed back from each deficit throughout the first 40 minutes of the game. Tied at 5-5 late in the third quarter, the Purple and Gold finally broke away with a 3-0 run, receiving goals from Blake O'Neill '19, Skyler Pradelski '16, and Wyatt Katsos '17. Although the Highlanders held EC off of the board in the fourth, the three-goal cushion was enough to seal the victory in the final period. Pradelski and Katsos each scored a hat trick to lead the offense, while Cameron Prior '17 earned his third win in goal for the Soaring Eagles.

Making the Most of the Man-up
After going a combined 0-for-9 on the power play in the first two games of the season – both losses – the Soaring Eagles have seen their fortunes turn around on the man-up and in the win column. In winning three of their last four contests, EC has scored at least one extra-man goal in each of the last four games, including a 3-for-4 effort against SUNY Cobleskill on March 19th and a perfect 2-for-2 outing against Houghton on March 30th. While converting 25.0-percent of the man-up opportunities has the Soaring Eagles near the bottom of the conference rankings, the seven power-play goals already tied the team's total from all of last season.

Series History
Since Alfred State made the move to NCAA Division III, the Soaring Eagles boast a 2-0 record over the Pioneers. Elmira routed Alfred State in the first such meeting, a 22-3 blowout in the 2014 regular season finale. Last season, the Purple and Gold defeated the Pioneers 10-4, once again in the final game of the year. Cameron Prior '17 has earned both wins in goal, including a 15-save performance in last year's meeting.

Scouting Alfred State
The Pioneers have had a rough go of things since beginning their transition to NCAA Division III in the 2013-14 season.  The start of the 2016 campaign has proven to be much of the same, as Alfred State enters Saturday's matchup with a 2-7 record. One of the wins was a 15-13 defeat of Houghton back on March 9th. Since then, however, the Pioneers have dropped five in a row, giving up over 19 goals per game during that stretch. On Wednesday, they fell 21-2 to the College at Brockport at home. The young attacking duo of sophomore Aaron Buck and freshman Joe Johnson leads the offense with 24 and 20 points, respectively. Johnson has netted a team-best 17 goals, while Buck has scored 14 times. Sophomore midfielder Patrick Matkoski has earned a team-high 12 assists and is third on the club with 17 points. Junior netminder Ryan Amidon has started all nine games for the Pioneers. He has made 119 saves, but is surrendering an average of 19.21 goals per game.

Up Next
The Elmira College men's lacrosse team will host the College at Brockport in a non-conference game on Tuesday, March 5th. The opening faceoff from Campus Field is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.