ALFRED, NY — Freshman Jake Lynch (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) and senior Nicolas Wood (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) guided the Alfred University men's lacrosse team to a 13-12 Empire 8 Conference win over Stevens Institute of Technology Saturday afternoon.
 
Lynch led the Saxons (8-1, 2-1 E8) in scoring with five goals and one assis, with Wood netting four goals in the game.  Also scoring for the Saxons were Tanner Morse (Corning, NY/Corning East), Matt Zandri (Baldwinsville, NY/Baldwinsville), and Ben DeMarco (Jamestown, NY/Jamestown). 
 
Sophomore John Winchell (Vestal, NY/Vestal) set the standard in assists for AU, tallying four in the contest.  Zandri provided two assists while Lynch and Keenan Denis (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) had one helper each.
 
To open the game, the teams looked to be sizing one another up, attempting to find weaknesses within their opponent's ranks.  Nearly five minutes in, Lynch broke the silence, putting the Saxons up on the board, 1-0.  Almost on cue, nearly five minutes later, sophomore John Winchell (Vestal, NY/Vestal) found Lynch breaking toward the crease and fed him the ball.  Lynch dashed and fooled the Ducks goalie and tallied his second goal of the day.  To close out the first quarter, Stevens scored twice to lock the game at 2 goals each.
 
In the second quarter organized mayhem ensued, with the teams combining for eight goals.  The Ducks were the first team on the board to grab their first lead of the day.  However, the lead was short lived due to Zandri finding the net with 8:43 to go in the half.  Wood followed Zandri's goal with a goal of his own only 12 seconds later on a pass sent in from sophomore Denis.  Wood showed off his athletic prowess in front of the net, spinning off a Ducks defender while ripping a shot from low to high, meeting the twine to grab the lead for the Saxons, 4-3. 
 
Only two and half minutes later Stevens knotted the game again on a man-up goal.  Nevertheless, Lynch found the back of the net a minute later to secure the lead.  Stevens would answer Saxon one last time in the half before AU grabbed two quick goals before the teams headed off the field for half time.  Following the first half of play, the Saxons held a 7-5 advantage.
 
In the second stanza the Ducks were the first to score, but AU rattled off three goals in a row and held Stevens scoreless the remainder of the third quarter. 
 
To open the fourth, Stevens scored three goals before the Saxons to take away the momentum to bring the Ducks back into the game, only down 10-9.  Finally, Morse rifled a shot past the Stevens goalie to break the Ducks' run. 
 
With 2:57 left of the clock, Wood broke through the Stevens defense to attain his hat trick on the day and seemingly put the game out of reach.  However, the Ducks refused to go away quietly; scoring two quick goals to bring the game back within one, 12-11.  It was Wood again with a clutch goal, scoring for the Saxons to gain breathing room with 47 seconds to go in the game.  Sixteen seconds later the Ducks answered AU's goal, but their efforts would prove to be futile as sophomore Jimmy Pratti (Minisink, NY/Minisink Valley) won the final faceoff and the Saxons ran out the clock to victory, 13-12. 
 
The win over Stevens marks the first time the Alfred University men's lacrosse team beat the Ducks since their entrance into the Empire 8 in 2007.
 
Pratti rattled off 12 groundballs in the affair to head the Saxons efforts.  Denis collected six groundballs while freshman goalie Drew Gardner (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) and junior defender Max Wilson (Menlo Park, CA/Menlo-Atherton) each managed five.
 
Gardner played 58:54 minutes of the game, taking a short breather following a kick-save.  The freshman goalie amassed 13 saves on the afternoon.  Senior Tyler Beyor (Carthage, NY/Cartage) relieved Gardner, and faced no shots.
 
The Saxons look to carry their momentum into their last home game of the season, Sat. April 4, against Elmira College at Yunevich Stadium at 1PM.