BROCKPORT, NY—Junior
John Winchell (Vestal, NY/Vestal) and freshman
Joe Fornataro (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) paired up to score a hat trick each to lead the Saxons (2-0, E8 0-0) over SUNY Brockport, 10-6.
Winchell completed the hat trick prior to the mid-game break, scoring twice in the first quarter and once in the second. Fornataro spread his goals over the final three quarters, with his final goal snapping a 3-0 run by Brockport in the fourth quarter where the Golden Eagles brought the game to 8-6 with 2:47 left to play. Fornataro and junior
Derek Bishopp (Livonia, NY/Livonia) ended the game with a goal with 26 seconds and one second left, respectively.
Bishopp and sophomore
Jake Lynch (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) scored two goals each to round out the scoring summary for the Saxons. Lynch leads the Saxons on the season with nine goals in two games.
In addition to his two goals, Bishopp also tallied one assist. Goalie sophomore
Drew Gardner (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) claimed the other assist for AU.
The Saxons opened the game on a 4-0 run to earn the lead before Brockport scored with 33 seconds left in the first quarter to get onto the scoreboard. AU extended the lead to 6-1 before the Golden Eagles scored again with 1:13 left in the half. Finally, in the second half Brockport made a move for to tie the game up, but AU continued to outscore their opponents 4-3 over the half.
Three Saxons split the faceoff role in the game, only winning 5-of-19 (26.3%) the faceoffs. Senior
Nolan Jessop (Churchville, NY/Churchville Chili) paced the Saxons with three groundballs in the game. Fellow senior
Pat Byrne (Boston, NY/Hamburg) caused two turnovers on defense for AU.
Gardner spent the entire game in goal for AU, making 16 saves, a career-high. His previous personal best (14) came a year ago against SUNY Brockport, where Gardner made a last second save to win the game where the Golden Eagles stormed back from a deficit. AU pulled out the win 9-8 in that game.
The Saxons are idle until they travel to Myrtle Beach, SC to take on Emmanuel College on March 7
th at 1PM. AU topped Emmanuel 14-6 during their Spring Break trip in 2015.