UTICA, NY – The Alfred University men's lacrosse team fell to host Utica College Saturday afternoon, 16-15, despite netting three unanswered goals in the final two minutes of regulation.
 
The Saxons (4-6, 0-4 Empire 8) were led offensively behind senior Derek Bishopp (Livonia, NY/Livonia) and junior Jake Lynch (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) with four goals and one assist apiece while sophomore Joe Fornataro (Rochester, NY/Greece Athena) chipped in with three goals and three assists.
 
Midway through the second quarter, the Saxons found themselves down 7-6 before Lynch tied the game up with 5:09 remaining in the game. With the momentum on AU's side, sophomore Kyle Landrigan (Canandaigua, NY/Canandaigua) found the back of the net with 4:01 remaining in the second to give Alfred the 8-7 advantage going into the half.
 
The Pioneers came out into the second half, scoring three unanswered goals before Bishopp stopped the run to only be down 10-9. Alfred would find themselves down 12-10 going into the forth as Fornataro scored with 1:11 remaining in the third. Utica would grow their lead in the forth as Nick Yelich and Jake Bratek each scored to give Utica the 16-12 lead with 4:03 remaining in regulation. Alfred then went on a run of their own, scoring three goals in the final 1:47 of game.
 
The Saxons were led defensively by freshman Garrette Briggs (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) with six ground balls while senior Chris Deisenroth (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas) and freshman Shane Weber (Hull, MA/Hull) had five ground balls apiece. Deisenroth and Weber led the team in caused turnovers with three apiece.
 
Briggs won 15-of-21 face offs for Alfred.
 
The Pioneer were led by Brickman House with five points (two goals, three assists), Jake Bratex with four points (three goals, one assist) and Nick Yelich with four points as well (three goals, one assist), respectively.
 
Time was split in net between junior Chris Bucciarelli (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) and junior Drew Gardner (Whitney Point, NY/Whitney Point) with Bucciarelli picking up the loss. Bucciarelli made seven saves on 16 shots faced while Gardner made eight saves on 15 shots faced.
 
The Saxons are off until Saturday, April 15^th, as they take on Empire 8 foe Elmira College at 1 p.m.