The Mohawk Valley Men's Lacrosse team lost to Tompkins-Cortland 13-11 Wednesday evening at D'Alessandro Stadium. In an exciting back and forth game, the Hawks came up just short. The Panthers scored early to go up 1-0 and then the Hawks got going rattling of five straight goals. Dominick Gratch scored twice and Max Hunt scored three times in the opening quarter before the Hawks conceded a late goal but still held a 5-2 lead after the opening quarter. Tompkins-Cortland got themselves back in the game with a big second quarter and goalie Matt Nichols came up with some big saves to hold the Hawks to one goal in the frame, that being Hunt's fourth goal of the game. The score was tied 6-6 at halftime.
The Panthers scored quick to open the second half, but the Hawks never wavered with a back and forth third quarter that saw Derek Ferrone and Ryan Mierek both add goals for the Hawks going into the fourth quarter trailing 9-8. The Panthers jumped the Hawks quick in the final quarter but the Hawks didn't back down. While trailing 13-9 with four minutes to go, the Hawks would score back to back goals quickly to close it to 13-11, but Nichols made a couple big saves late to hold off the Hawks and give the Panthers the victory. For Mohawk Valley, the team set team and individual scoring records on the evening. Max Hunt broke the record for most points in a game with seven on five goals and two assists, and the Hawks 11 goals scored is the highest offensive output in the last decade. Ryan Quinn continued his stellar play in net for the Hawks as he came up with another big performance stopping many shots point blank and finishing the game with 19 saves. The hawks had multiple goal performances from four different players on the evening, Hunt with five and Gratch, Ferrone, and Mierek all with two apiece.
"It was an exciting lacrosse game both ways. It didn't end the way we wanted, but we know what we have to fix moving forward. The difference in the game was groundballs, it seemed like they got every loose ball and when you are getting those extra couple of possessions, it will absolutely make the difference in a tight game," said Coach Evanoff. The Hawks have a short recovery time as they host Monroe Community College Friday evening at D'Alessandro Stadium at 6:00pm. The game will be live streamed on Hudl.
