By: Brayden Peters
BROCKPORT, N.Y. - The Brockport Golden Eagles men's lacrosse team opened up their season with a bang at home, beating the Canton Kangaroos 20-6 in their first ever matchup. It was a complete effort, as the Golden Eagles outshot the Kangaroos 56-to-27, while also winning 18 of the 27 face-offs and recording 13 caused turnovers compared to Canton's five.
"We kind of just stuck to our guns," Golden Eagles freshman attackman Pierson Jacobs said. "Our coach [head coach Nick Fiorentino] gave us the recipe for success and we just followed along with that."
Senior midfielder Nate Askin led Brockport with nine points (seven + two). His nine points and seven goals are both career-highs for him in a game.
"I feel like I haven't had a collegiate game where I felt that confident, making moves and shooting it," Askin said. "It felt amazing, it was a surreal experience...I feel very confident when there's a shorty [short stick player] on me, so when I get matched up against a pole, I'll still take the dodge, but I feel like there's a lot of opportunities when there are shorties, and the slide came late a lot of times. Also, my teammates did a great job feeding on the man up and many other things. I guess it was right place, right time."
The Golden Eagles' freshmen were active in the win, with Jacobs leading the way with five points (four goals + one assist). His fourth goal was a behind-the-back left-handed shot into the bottom right corner of the net.
"I've been practicing that," Jacobs said. "I would get yelled at practice for missing it, but I came out and hit it, so it feels good."
Brockport's other freshmen to record points were defensive midfielder Rorick Perry with three (one + two) while attackman Peter McGowan posted two (two + zero). Face-off specialist Nicholas Ange, (zero + one), defenseman AJ Thomas, (zero + one), midfielder Luke Lombardi, (zero + one) and attackman Andrew Heins, (one + zero) all recorded one point each.
Ange also recorded 13 of Brockport's 18 face-off wins, as he ended the night going 13-for-18 in the face-off circle.
Senior Jack Acker got the start in between the pipes for the Golden Eagles. He recorded eight saves while allowing three goals for an 87.5 save percentage. Sophomore Jared Kulik came in for Acker in the final quarter of action. He picked up one save while allowing three goals for a 25 save percentage.
The Golden Eagles were effective on clears, going 21-for-22. They also went four-for-six on the man up and five-for-eight while on the man down.
Askin opened up the scoring with 12:30 left in the first quarter. He ripped a right-handed shot low past junior goalie Hayden Todd. Askin's goal was the first of a 13-unanswered goal streak that carried into the second quarter. The streak was broken with 1:13 left before halftime as Kangaroos freshman midfielder Johnny McIear buried a right-handed sidearm shot into the top-right corner of the cage from the hole. It would be the last goal of the half as Brockport went into halftime with a 13-1 lead after outshooting Canton 32-to-10.
McGowan opened up the third quarter with a goal while on the man up with 11:29 left in the frame. He fired a right-handed shot into the top right corner of the net while mid-air. Ironically, Kangaroos junior attackman Michael Newcomb, who attended West Seneca West with McGowan, would score less than two minutes later. He snuck in a right-handed side arm shot off the post and into the net to cut the lead to 14-2.
The Golden Eagles would get back to business with 8:08 left in the third quarter. Senior midfielder Nick Maslin did a spin dodge to create space and buried a left-handed sidearm shot into the top-right corner of the net. It would kickstart a four unanswered goal streak to give Brockport an 18-2 lead.
After Brockport scored its 18th goal, Todd was replaced in net by senior Sam Servati. Todd ended the night with 13 saves for a 41.9 save percentage. As for Servati, he would record four saves for a 66.7 save percentage.
McIear once again would snap the scoring streak. He buried a left-handed sidearm shot through the five-hole of Acker with 3:22 left to go in the third quarter.
The Golden Eagles would come away with one more goal before the end of the frame. Under two minutes in the quarter, Askin buried his seventh goal of the game on a side-arm right handed shot that painted the top-right corner of the net.
Scoring in the fourth quarter was at a minimum as Brockport put multiple backups into the game. With 7:37 left in the frame, Canton junior midfielder Charles Grandaw found the top-left corner on a right-handed shot to start the scoring in the quarter.
The Golden Eagles would respond almost four minutes later as Hines found the bottom-right corner of the net to give Brockport its 20th goal. The Kanagroos would scored their final two goals while on a man up, thanks to senior attackman Caeden Goodnough and Newcomb.
Brockport improved to 1-0 with the non-conference win while Canton dropped to 0-1.
The Golden Eagles will prepare to take on Clarkson on the road on Wednesday. Brockport fell to the Golden Knights to open up the 2024 season at home 17-7 on Feb. 28.
"We can't get too ahead of ourselves," Askin said. "Putting up 20 goals in a game is always great, so it's a great send-off to our game on Wednesday, but definitely got to keep the emotions intact and can't get too high."
Face-off for the game Wednesday is at 3 p.m.
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