Heartbreak at Hartwick for Brockport
- Brayden Peters
- Apr 30
- 5 min read
By: Brayden Peters / Assistant Sports Director
ONEONTA, N.Y. - The Brockport Golden Eagles men's lacrosse team's season came to a dramatic end, falling short 12-11 to the Hartwick Hawks in the Empire 8 Quarterfinals. Hartwick carried late momentum from the third quarter into the fourth to take the lead. The Hawks also had clutch play in net from sophomore goalie Kaiden Johnson, who made six saves in the fourth frame and finished with 14 for a 56 save percentage. Late in the third frame, the Hawks were down 9-7 against the Golden Eagles.
"It's unfortunate," Brockport head coach Nick Fiorentino said. "This is a tremendous group of men to be with every day. A lot of weeks, a lot of months together. I'm so proud of them, they were outstanding today. It was a true battle and they gave everything they absolutely had. At the end of the day, forget the score, that's a lot to be proud of and what they have done for the program this year is outstanding. We are moving forward in the right direction and it's credit to those guys."
With four seconds left on the clock in the quarter, Hartwick senior midfielder Tyler Nocito found the top right corner of the cage on a right-handed sidearm shot. Nocito's goal cut the lead to 9-8 entering the fourth frame.
Hawks sophomore attacker Luke Ward help tied the game up with 11:48 remaining in the quarter. Ward beat senior goalie Jack Acker stick side and found the top left corner of the net on a right-handed shot.
The Golden Eagles would quickly respond with senior midfielder Jack Rice. Rice drove to the hole after beating freshman midfielder Michael LoBosco on a face dodge. Rice proceeded to find the bottom right corner of the cage on a right-handed shot to give Brockport a 10-9 lead.
Hartwick went on to score three unanswered goals to take a 12-10 lead with 6:02 left in the game.
Brockport responded late thanks to freshman attacker Pierson Jacobs. Jacobs caught a deep pass from Acker on a clear and was one-on-one with Johnson. With 10 seconds left in the quarter, Jacobs ripped a left-handed sidearm shot into the top right corner of the cage.
Golden Eagles freshman face-off specialist Nicholas Ange would go on to win the face-off to give Brockport possession. However, the Hawks' defense would smother Brockport's offense, not allowing a shot to help secure the victory. The Golden Eagles outshot Hartwick 11-to-nine in the frame.
Jacobs led the Golden Eagles with four points (three + one). Brockport's upperclassmen contributed as well, with senior midfielder Nate Askin picking up three points (two + one) in his final game of his collegiate career.
"I thought we had them, the entire game, I thought we had them," Askin said. "It's my last game ever. I can't even think of it right now."
Graduate attacker Carson Colucci and Rice both finished with a goal and an assist for two points.
Acker got the start in net for the Golden Eagles. Acker finished with 18 saves for a 60 save percentage. He was coming off a 12 save performance in Brockport's 18-8 win over Keuka Saturday, passing Cameron Kuzniar for the most saves in a season in program history (210).
The Hawks got out to an early 2-0 lead in the first quarter as Brockport struggled to not rush the tempo on offense. However, with 6:03 left in the first quarter the Golden Eagles were able to cut the lead in half thanks to Askin. Askin drove to the hole and buried a left-handed shot into the top left corner of the net.
Ward would sneak away with one more goal before the end of the frame. He found the five-hole on a low-to-low left-handed shot to put Hartwick up 3-1. The Hawks outshot Brockport 16-to-four in the quarter.
Junior midfielder Liam McManus would add onto Hartwick's lead early in the second frame. McManus snuck a right-handed sidearm shot underneath Acker's right arm.
Brockport would respond, but with four unanswered goals to take a 5-4 lead with 5:19 left in the quarter. The Golden Eagles started to find its rhythm after a slow start.
"The few opportunities we had in the first quarter, those were good ones," Fiorentino said. "It was more of just settling into the game, definitely gripping the stick a little tight and a little antsy defensively. We settled down and I thought we performed at a high level."
Hartwick would snap the scoring streak and come away with the last goal in the frame thanks to senior midfielder Garrett Frost. On a step-down right-handed sidearm shot, Frost stung the top right corner with 2:29 left in the frame. The Golden Eagles outshot Hartwick 10-to-nine in the quarter.
Freshman attacker Mason Adams would help the Hawks snatch the lead early in the third frame. Adams fired a right-handed sidearm shot into the top right corner of the net.
Brockport would go on to score three consecutive goals to take an 8-6 lead with 10:47 remaining. Sophomore midfielder Spencer Hogaboom would end the streak and cut the lead to one for Hartwick almost five minutes later. Hogaboom took a right-handed shot that found the top right corner of the cage.
The Golden Eagles would respond with 2:33 left in the third frame. Sophomore attacker Marc Zappulla rifled a right-handed sidearm shot into the top left corner.
Nocito would score the final goal of the frame with four seconds left to kickstart the Hawks' fourth quarter comeback. Hartwick outshot Brockport 11-to-seven in the third frame.
With the win, the Hawks improved to 9-6 and they will take on No.1 St. John Fisher tomorrow on the road for the Empire 8 Semifinals.
The Golden Eagles ended the season with an 8-9 record. Brockport will look to keep trending upward after finishing 4-11 and missing the SUNYAC playoffs last season.
"We had a ton of growth, got a lot of guys into places where they're going to have a future," Colucci said. "Us guys that are graduating and moving on, we had a great run here in the end. It was a lot of fun. Coach Fiorentino brought a lot of tears. Definitely the program is on the up-and-up and I'm excited to be now called an alumni at Brockport."
Notable seniors and graduates the Golden Eagles will lose at the end of the season are Askin, Colucci, Rice, Acker, senior defenseman Tim Hubbard, senior defenseman Zach Cole, senior midfielder Nick Maslin and graduate midfielder Jacob Stine.
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