By: Chamberlain Bauder
BROCKPORT, N.Y. --- The SUNY Brockport men's lacrosse team notched their first win of the season, defeating Westminster 14-10 in their home opener. The Golden Eagles were led in scoring by Nate Askin with four goals and an assist. He was followed by a pair of hat tricks for graduate student Jack Peterson and Senior Ryan McCarthy. Jhovanny Olivares and Ethan Barrett led the feeding in the offense each notching three assists and a goal on the day. On the defensive end Brockport was led by Senior Anthony McGee who led the team with five ground balls and two caused turnovers. Cam Kuzniar put in another outstanding performance in net, notching 15 saves and posting a .600 save percentage.
The Golden Eagles came out hot in the first quarter, with just a minute off the board Nate Askin went crashing into the offensive zone and took a short stick matchup. All it took was one dodge and Askin had his hands free to find the back of the net. A minute later, the Brockport midfield went to work, McCarthy set a pick for Jackson Worden and he found Askin wide open on goal line extended. He crashed the crease and went high near post to put Brockport up by two.
Westminster fired back as Hamish Mathwin found the back of the net while in on the crease, going between his legs behind the back to find a goal. Brockport snapped back with two more goals. The first came off the stick of McCarthy. He fell going towards goal and released the low to high shot and found the back of the net. That was followed up by Olivares as he waited up top for the pass from Ethan Barrett and beat his first defender before sending it into the back of the net.
Just two minutes later Ethan Barrett found a goal on a quick stick play, Askin throwing a short pass in from X. Following that goal, Westminster started to find their offensive groove. They needed the man up to jump start them but senior Ryan Greer found the back of the net from the left wing. Two minutes later Mathwin notched his second, also from the hole. After another minute it was Boyd Foster finding the back of the net and just like that Westminster cut the lead down to one.
Unlike the first quarter, where lacrosse proved to be a game of runs, the second was a grudge match. Each team trading blows, trying to find a way to penetrate their respective defenses. The Golden Eagles were first on the board as Mike O'Brien scored from the top of the key on the man up opportunity. Westminster answered five minutes later, just past the eight minute mark, as Nick Hubner scored on the crease, over his shoulder with his back turned to the goal.
A minute later it was Brockport answering right back as Peterson scored his first of the day. Another goal wouldn't come until the final two minutes of the half. Askin looked to dodge around a short stick once again, almost appearing automatic on the first step. He got his hands free and ripped it into the top corner for the first half hat trick. Just a minute after that McCarthy snagged an outside shot of the pass from Olivares and the Golden Eagles went into the half-time break with a 9-5 lead.
The second half opened a bit slower that the previous two quarters. Askin scored his fourth goal of the day crashing in on net five minutes into the quarter and extended the Brockport lead to four. A few minutes later the Griffins kicked it into gear, down by five. They ripped off a three goal run of their own led by Greer, scoring two of them.
In the last 90 seconds of the quarter though, Peterson made it happen not once but twice. First was another quick stick goal, this time Barrett had the feed to set up Peterson on the crease. The second was a perfectly caught pass in the middle of three Westminster defenders, Peterson found space for his hands and showed why his teammates call him GOAT. The Golden Eagles went into the break with the same lead they carried into half, up by four.
Westminster opened the scoring in the fourth, sophomore midfielder Gavin Jones found the bottom left corner as he was cutting inside off the feed from Greer. That was the closest the Griffins would get as McCarthy finished his hat trick just two minutes later. Ben Hay put a bow on things with 2:39 left, wrapping around the crease and going low to low for goal number 14 for the Golden Eagles. Jones scored once more in similar fashion to his first but it was too little too late for the Griffins, final score Brockport 14, Westminster 10.
With that victory the Golden Eagles finally break into the win column after starting 0-3 in non-conference play. Brockport has three more non-conference games on the schedule, up next will be Utica on Wednesday March 15.