ALFRED, NY – The Alfred University men's lacrosse team picked up a hard-fought Empire 8 win over visiting Hartwick College on Saturday afternoon from Yunevich Stadium, defeating the visitors, 12-6.

The Saxons (8-3, 2-1 Empire 8) never relinquished the lead despite the Hawks (5-4, 2-2 Empire 8) tying the game up at 2-2 and 3-3 during the first half. The Saxons held a 2-0 lead after the first quarter when Kevin Matson (Chenango Bridge, NY/Chenango Forks) and Drew Cartwright (Elmira, NY/Elmira) both scored unassisted goals in the period.

Hartwick scored the first two goals of the second quarter for the game's first tied scoreboard. Paul Forte (Greece, NY/Greece Arcadia) assisted Matson on his second goal shortly after the Hawks' second score, making a 3-2 game. Hartwick tied the game up for the second and what would prove to be the last time just over three minutes later, just before the Saxons closed out the first half with back-to-back goals.

Josh Hauman (Webster, NY/Webster Schroeder) scored the fourth goal for AU with just over four minutes remaining in the half as AU closed out the second quarter with Matson scoring his third from an assist by Cartwright, just under two minutes remaining.

Matson scored his fourth in the beginning of the third quarter, making it a 6-3 Saxon lead. The Hawks pushed back with two goals to make it 6-5 in favor of AU. The Saxons closed out the game with a 6-1 run with the game-winning goal being scored by Connor DiDomineck (Bath, NY/Haverling) just under five minutes remaining in the third quarter.

Justin Mosher (Hilton, NY/Hilton) scored his goal with mere seconds remaining in the third quarter. Hauman received a pass from Caleb DuBois (East Aurora, NY/East Aurora) to start the fourth quarter scoring spree, less than two minutes into the start. Matson scored his fifth goal on an assist from Hauman with less than 11 minutes of regulation.

Dawson Felenchak (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) made it 11-5 with his unassisted goal at 9:45 remaining. Harwick's final goal occurred just over six minutes remaining before DuBois connected to Forte for the 12^th goal, just under a minute remaining on Saturday's conference game.

"It was a great team effort today over a quality opponent," Head Coach Jason Lockner said. "Kinner did a great job on defense, shutting down there leading-scorer as Kimiecik was awesome in goal. Matson had a great performance on our offense and Winkky did great on our faceoffs. DuBois was a war horse between the lines today."

Scott Kimiecik (Randolph, NJ/Randolph) had quite the day in goal, making 17 saves in the 60 minutes of action as he picked up the win. He added three ground balls and one caused turnover on the day. Joining Kimiecik in the defensive effort, Jeramiah Kinner (Bath, NY/Haverling) had a game-high three caused turnovers and a game-high seven ground balls.

Kaelan Winkky (Horseheads, NY/Horseheads) won 8-of-14 faceoff attempts while DuBois added a 4-of-7 performance at the starts.

The Saxons will take to the road on Wednesday, April 20 as they next take on St. John Fisher College at 4:00pm in Empire 8 action.