It was a tough day for the Brockport Golden Eagles men’s lacrosse team, as they fell 18-13 to the Chatham Cougars. Brockport hung with the Cougars before Chatham pulled away late.
Going into the game there was a shakeup in the lineup for Brockport. Freshman midfielder Daniel Wright was put on the starting line for offensive midfielders. Also, freshman midfielder Mason Doshi was put on the second line.
Brockport got off to a rocky start with a faceoff violation from Andrew DiPalma. Then, Chatham drew first blood in the first quarter thanks to Trent Griffin burying a shot down low.
Brockport responded. Jackson Worden scored Brockport’s first goal with a side-arm shot up top. Then, he buried another one after snatching a ground ball during a broken play.
The Golden Eagles’ defense held off Chatham’s offense for a while due to good perimeter defense. Eventually, Griffin broke through the defense with his second goal of the game. Brady Rigdon tacked on one more before the first quarter closed.
Not even a minute into the second quarter, Ethan Rinker extended Chatham’s lead to 4-2. It wasn’t long before Brockport responded, thanks to Marc Zappula scoring. Things unraveled a bit for Brockport from there.
Chatham went on a six-unanswered goal streak in the second to extend its lead to 10-3. Before the third quarter started, Brockport made a change in net. Freshman goalie Jared Kulik got to be in between the pipes for the first time in his career to replace Jack Acker.
The start of the third quarter didn’t show much offensive production from either team. Brockport’s defense stepped up and began to play physically, making things tough on Chatham’s offense. As for the Cougars, they continued to find ways to create turnovers thanks to excellent stick-checking.
By the middle of the third quarter, the midfield line condensed to Mike O’Brien, Worden and Daniel Wright. Doshi and Garrett Smith never saw the field for the rest of the game. This line change seemed to work for Brockport as O’Brien scored a much-needed goal.
The goal lit a new sense of energy on the Brockport sideline. Brockport used this energy to its advantage, as they went on a four unanswered goal streak within two minutes.
Chatham refused to let Brockport take away its lead. The Cougars scored two goals to extend their lead with less than three minutes to go in the third. The Golden Eagles responded with a goal to end the quarter. Things started to get away from Brockport for good early in the fourth quarter. Jacob Lubway went around the net and found his way towards the hole, allowing him to bury a shot down low past Kulik. Just over a minute later, Rinker scored his fifth goal of the game.
The Cougars racked up three unanswered goals before Brockport was able to score thanks to a bounce shot from Wright. It was the first goal in his collegiate career, and he couldn’t have done it without Nick Askin.
“Nick is going to draw a lot of attention,” Wright said. “Being able to swing the ball quick and get that shot off, it was nice.”
Head coach Colin Cornaire was happy with the way that Wright performed, as he ended the day with a goal and two assists for three points. Cornaire, though, believes Wright still has room to grow.
“He played like a freshman,” Cornaire said. “We know he’s skilled, so we knew he was going to put some points on the board. I think just settling in and running the offense the way it’s supposed to be ran, it’ll get easier and easier for him.”
Brockport was able to rack up two more goals, thanks to Askin and Postel. However, they weren’t enough to pull off the comeback effort.
Brockport (1-5) will look to get back in the win column against Oswego State on Saturday when they open SUNYAC play. The Golden Eagles will be on the road with the contest scheduled to start at 3 p.m.
