ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — The University at Albany men’s lacrosse team took down Sacred Heart, 13-7, at home on Wednesday night in the opening round of the NCAA Men’s Lacrosse Championship. The Great Danes advance to take on No. 1 overall seed Notre Dame Sunday at 5:00 p.m. in South Bend, Indiana.
Key Stat Lines
- Alex Pfeiffer led the way with four goals and two assists for six points, ripping seven shots of goal.
- Silas Richmond followed with four goals of his own, adding one helper and a ground ball.
- Jake Piseno finished with three ground balls and three caused turnovers. He added an assist after forcing a caused turnover and going coast to coast, dishing the ball to Ryan Doherty.
- Landon Whitney collected 12 saves for a .632 save percentage.
- Regan Endres went 13-22 at the X, picking up 10 ground balls.
Head Coach Scott Marr: “Their team [Sacred Heart] played really hard and really fast. I got on our guys all week about showing respect for their opponent by being prepared. We were prepared, we were ready to play. I had a knot in my stomach most of the game… I’m just so proud of our team. We’ve had some tremendous teams here at UAlbany. I don’t know if I’ve had one as dialed in as this group from day one. It’s been so much fun to be around, I’m so glad we will have practice tomorrow. I’m so proud to be a part of this program and to be with these guys.”
How it Happened:
- UAlbany got a hot start with two goals from Alex Pfeiffer to start the game.
- Sacred Heart’s Will Moulton made it 2-1 to break up the UAlbany scoring.
- Daniel Kesselring pushed the lead back to two goals for UAlbany seven minutes into the game, scoring a no-look goal after coming from behind the net.
- Sacred Heart’s Tucker Spencer cut the UAlbany lead to just one, scoring the first goal of the second quarter.
- Carson Spooner tied it at 3-3 for the Pios with 11:42 remaining in the second.
- Pfeiffer finished off his hat trick shortly after, putting the Great Danes back into the lead, 4-3.
- Silas Richmond scored his first of the game with 4:59 remaining in the first half, backing down his defender to get in front of the goal. Graydon Hogg scored shortly after to make it a 6-3 UAlbany advantage, a lead the Great Danes would take into the half.
- The first goal of the second half came on a Jake Piseno caused turnover, with the captain picking off an SHU pass and going coast to coast before dishing the ball to freshman Ryan Doherty for the score.
- SHU cut into the deficit next, with Spencer scoring again to make it 7-4 with 8:42 remaining in the third.
- Freshman Jackson Palumb made it a four-goal game with 4:06 on the clock, scoring his first of the night. SHU added one more before the end of the third to make it 8-5 heading into the final frame.
- Silas Richmond opened the fourth with a rip from the point to make it 9-5. SHU responded on a goal from Jake Ward to make it a three-goal game once again, 9-6.
- The Great Danes then scored four straight goals to put the game away. Richmond found the back of the net twice and Doherty and Pfeiffer added one each to make it a 13-6 game.
- Sacred Heart added one more goal with 25 seconds remaining to bring the final score to 13-7.
Next: The Great Danes move on to the NCAA First Round, where they’ll meet the defending champion Fighting Irish. Again, opening faceoff Sunday from South Bend is set for 5:00 p.m.