CORTLAND, N.Y. --- The Brockport Golden Eagles men’s lacrosse team fell hard on the road to SUNY Cortland 17-7 on Saturday afternoon. Despite an expectation for a more competitive game Brockport never came closer than a three-goal margin while the Red Dragons cruised to a win. Leading the scoring for Brockport were two unlikely names. Sophomore’s Mike O’Brien and Garrett Smith each scored twice in the loss as Brockport’s second line offensive midfield scored more than half of Brockport’s goals. Cam Kuzniar continued his spectacular season posting 19 saves in net despite facing 57 shots, for a .528 save percentage.
The first quarter started with immediate Cortland domination. The Red Dragons went on a four-goal run in the first seven minutes of the game despite Brockport winning the first three face-offs. The Golden Eagles couldn’t set up in the offensive zone and struggled against the hustle of the Red Dragons. Brockport’s first goal came on a man-up opportunity, Mike O’Brien painted the upper right corner with his 100mph shot and put his team on the board.
Cortland led off the second quarter scoring, Troy Morris scored his second of five on the day. Brockport responded quickly, Aidan Long found Carson Colucci on a fast break just a minute later and he slotted it into the upper left. The Red Dragons responded just over a minute later and less than thirty seconds after that it was Brockport again. Garrett Smith scored his first goal of the season. After only five minutes of the second quarter the score was 6-3 but the three-goal deficit for Brockport was unchanged.
Another four-goal run came from Cortland in five minutes before Brockport could respond again. The Golden eagles fourth goal came in transition as Colucci found Ethan Barrett on the crease and he was able to hit the near side top corner. Jason Chiodo scored the last goal of the half to put Cortland’s total at 11 with three seconds to go. Despite the 11 goals, Kuzniar had 13 saves at half-time. Brockport’s zone defense was allowing a high volume of shots, Cortland had 35 in the first half alone.
The third quarter was the closest of the game, a 2-2 split between the teams. The Golden Eagles strung two goals together for the first time in the game. Jhovanny Olivares scored the only first line midfield goal almost nine minutes into the third. A minute later Garrett Smith bagged his second goal of the day, his first multi-goal game as a Golden Eagle.
Cortland proved to score first in every quarter. In the fourth it was Austin Palmer who finished his hat trick to open scoring. Brockport responded again a minute later. Mike O’Brien scored Brockport’s first and last goals of the game. The sophomore notched his first career multi-goal game as well. Kuzniar stuck it out through the whole game in net.
Brockport fall to 3-8 on the season and 1-3 in the SUNYAC. They will next host SUNY Plattsburgh on April 22nd at A. Huntley Parker Jr. Field in Brockport New York.
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