Men’s lacrosse team starts season off on wrong foot

  The University at Albany men’s lacrosse team lost its third-straight game to start its season, dropping a 16-9 decision to Delaware on Saturday.

   The Great Danes (0-3) headed into the fourth period trailing 9-6, but a 7-3 fourth quarter cost UAlbany the game. The Blue Hens were led by senior Chris Dickson, who dominated the game with 10 points on eight goals and two assists – with three of the goals coming in the fourth quarter. The Danes were led by sophomore Joe Resetarits who had five points on three goals and two assists.

   But it was Tuesday night that the Danes did something they had never done before. They lost to Siena.

   A year after an 8-7 win in double overtime, the Danes’ cross-town rival returned the favor with a 13-12 win of its own – the Saints’ (1-2) first win over UAlbany at the Division I level. Danes coach Scott Marr gave much of the to Siena coach Brian Brecht.

   “It’s a good game,” Marr said. “There’s not a team in Division I that you can’t beat or lose to. I think it’s a very balanced division. Brian’s done a superb job with his group. They took advantage of our miscues”

   Each team responded to the other’s goal for most of the game, and the Saints headed into the fourth period with a 10-8 lead. They extended that lead to 12-8 with 8:55 remaining, but UAlbany closed the lead to 12-10 with 7:25 left.

   Then came the final three minutes of the game.

   Siena extended its lead to 13-10 giving the Danes only 2:35 to work with. UAlbany made good use of that time, responding with a goal 55 seconds later and 23 seconds after that, narrowing the lead to 13-12.

   The Danes then won just their eighth faceoff – compared to Siena’s 21 – of the game and junior Derek Kruezer took a shot with 50 seconds remaining, which was blocked.

   After forcing a turnover thanks to a double team, UAlbany scrambled up the field with seconds remaining. Junior Brian Caufield scooped up a ground ball and found himself just outside the crease on the left side. He took a shot with five seconds remaining that Siena senior goalkeeper Brent Herbst just got a piece of to seal the victory.

   “I took the shot. I wasn’t aware of how much time was left, so I tried to get it out as soon as possible,” Caufield said.

   Caufield led UAlbany with four points on two goals and two assists. Senior Dave Brock added three goals while sophomore Joe Resetarits and junior Matt Johnson added two goals each. Siena sophomore Bryan Neufield led all players in scoring with five points on four goals and one assist.

   “They’re a really good team,” Neufield said about the winless Danes. “Last year they snuck it out, this year we snuck it out. That bounce up in the air, it looked like it was going to happen all over again, but fate was on our side this time.”

   UAlbany, who was ranked No. 20 in the nation when the season began, dropped their second game in three days, and Brecht realized how important of a win this was for his team who battled with Johns Hopkins in an 8-7 loss two days earlier.

   “Albany has been a top-20 team for the past five, six, seven years,” Brecht said. “I think we slowly have caught up to [UAlbany] even with not having the same resources.”