ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's lacrosse team defeated Houghton College in Empire 8 action on Wednesday evening, 18-5 to close out its home schedule of the 2017 season at Yunevich Stadium.
 
The Saxons (6-7, 2-5 Empire 8) were led by Brett McMichael (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan) who had six points from four assists and two goals. Both Allen Vitale (Rochester, NY/Brighton) and Jake Lynch (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) had four-point games. Vitale had the Saxons' only hat-trick goal performance and added one assist while Lynch helped on three goals and found net once.
 
Samuel DiRisio (Prattsburgh, NY/Penn Yan) scored twice while both Rob Ensmenger (Old Bethpage, NY/Plainview-Old Bethpage JFK) and Nick Skibitsky (East Amherst, NY/Williamsville East) had a goal and an assist each to round out the two-point performers. In total, 14 Saxons scored at least one goal while seven members of the purple and gold assisted.
 
Garrette Briggs (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) led the Saxons with 11 faceoff wins out of his 13 attempts while Jimmy Pratti (Slatehill, NY/Minisink Valley) had eight wins from 13 tries. The duo also led AU with Briggs bringing in nine ground balls and Pratti with five.
 
Lynch held the top spot for Alfred University with three caused turnovers.
 
Chris Doktor (Irondequoit, NY/Eastridge) picked up the win in the first quarter with one save. Drew Gardner (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) did not face a single shot on goal while Chris Bucciarelli (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) had three saves and Brandon Smith (Queens, NY/The Governor's Academy) had two. All four Saxon goalies evenly split the 15-minute quarters.
 
The Saxons scored the first 15 goals of the game before Houghton was able to find net in the third quarter.
 
The Saxons will next travel to Rochester, NY on Saturday, April 29 for a 1pm game start with St. John Fisher College to end their 2017 campaign.