The Ithaca College men’s lacrosse team earned its first win of the season Feb. 26, defeating the SUNY Geneseo Knights 15-6. Junior goalkeeper Andrew Minard recorded 15 saves in the dominant win.
[The offense and defense] stayed locked in the whole game,” Minard said. “[We] didn’t let the highs get too high or the lows get too low, and that’s how we got the job done.”
The last time the two teams faced off, the Knights were able to escape with a 11-10 victory over the Bombers.
The Bombers started the game aggressively, pushing into the Knights’ zone quickly, leading to graduate student midfielder Kyle Savery bouncing the first goal into the net to open this game up less than two minutes in.
Just a couple minutes later, senior midfielder Graham Brady used his sidewinder to swipe one past senior goalkeeper Andrew Tittmann to make it 2-0 with 11 minutes left in the quarter.
Geneseo started to gain some offensive traction, recording two shots on net, but Minard shut them both down.
As the clock trickled down on the first quarter, the Bombers extended their lead to four thanks to senior attackers Kyle Proctor and Jack Pastore — also a midfielder — as the South Hill squad’s offensive dominance was the story of the first fifteen minutes.
The Bombers carried the momentum into the second quarter, as sophomore midfielders Ethan Adrid and Lucas Proctor — also an attacker — scored goals to make it 6-0. Savery then wristed his second goal of the game, and IC pushed its lead to seven with 11:30 to go in the half. The Bombers did not stop there, with junior midfielder Sam Baker scoring a goal of his own, and the offensive onslaught continued as the second quarter progressed.
After about 20 minutes of play, Knights sophomore midfielder Colin Cahill broke the ice and finally got one past Minard to eat the donut off the scoreboard.
It took a few minutes, but Brady broke the silence and scored his second goal of the game to make it 9-1 as the first half came to a close.
Bombers’ head coach Tommy Pearce said he was pleased with both the offensive and defensive sides in the first half, which set the tone for all 60 minutes of the game.
“They were getting stops,” Pearce said. “Andrew Minard was making a lot of saves and we were able to clear the ball consistently. Offensively, we had to work for our goals, they weren’t coming easy.”
The Knights started the second half strong because sophomore midfielder Jake Perinchief ripped a blazing shot past Minard to narrow the lead to seven goals. Kyle Proctor and Pastore answered right back with two bounce shots past Tittman.
Whatever adjustments the Knights made at halftime, the Bombers countered them quickly, with Savery getting his hat trick to make it a double-digit lead.
It took nearly nine minutes for there to be another goal, but Knights’ first-year attacker Aksel Stanat trimmed the deficit to nine goals with 2:15 to go in the third period. One minute later, junior attacker Tim Rogers answered right back to make it 13-3 with just over 1:30 to play in the quarter.
The Knights then capitalized on their first man-up advantage of the game due to a Rogers slashing call, as Knights junior attacker Ronnie Trebing ripped a laser through the netting to end the third quarter.
After four minutes of back-and-forth action between both offenses, the Bombers widened the lead to double digits after senior midfielder Liam Lennon sent the rubber through the posts.
The Knights responded with back-to-back goals, scored by Stanat and Trebing. Graduate student attacker Charlie Niebuhr then scored the last goal of the game for the Bombers.
Minard said he was satisfied with how the game went, and he is looking forward to the upcoming season.
“I’m feeling juiced,” Minard said. “I’m excited for the rest of the season. I’ve been working for the past three years to get my chance, and it’s finally here.”
With the win, the Bombers moved to 1-1 on the year. The South Hill squad will host Widener University at noon March 1 at Higgins Stadium.
