Keuka Park, N.Y. – Russell Sage College men's lacrosse team posted a 17-12 Empire 8 road win over Keuka College on Saturday afternoon. Trailing 7-4 at the half, the Gators outscored the Wolves 8-2 in the third quarter to take a 12-9 lead into the final quarter as they collected the key conference win. Sage moves to 6-8 on the year and 1-3 in the league.
Junior attackman Anthony Abreu (Monroe, NJ/Monroe Township) led the Gators with his six points on four goals with two assists, while attackman Hunter Brunelle (Skaneateles, NY/Jordan-Elbridge), a grad student, tallied three goals.
Sophomore midfielder Jake McElwee (Jackson, NJ/Jackson Liberty) had four points after scoring two goals with two assists in the action. Senior attackman Bailey Martin (Syracuse, NY/Onondaga Central) added two goals with an assist in the match. In the fourth quarter McElwee and Martin scored two goals each, while McElwee assisted on one of Martin's tallies.
Rookie long stick defensemen, Joe Johnson (Gansevoort, NY/South Glens Falls) and Drew Rankin (Painted Post, NY/Corning-Painted Post) had a strong outing for the Gators. Johnson had six ground ball pickups with a caused turnover, while Rankin tallied five caused turnovers with three ground ball pickups.
Martin holds Sage's career goal scoring standard with his active mark that is now at 56 goals, while his 82 points is second all-time, just seven points shy of breaking the current mark of 88 points held by Robert Martin (2019-2021).
Freshman goalie Erik Reynolds (South Glens Falls, NY/South Glens Falls) made 11 saves in the action to record his first career win.
Sophomore midfielder Dean Sampson (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) won 16-of-30 face-offs for the Gators and added four ground balls as well in the action. He leads the Gators with 71 ground balls on the year.
Next time out the Gators will host Nazareth College on April 24 at 1 p.m. in their final home contest of the 2022 campaign. Sage will honor their impressive senior class in conjunction with Senior Day as the list includes six players that were members of the program's first varsity team in 2019.
Notes: Hunter Brunelle has taken over the Gator scoring race with his 52 points on 28 goals with 24 assists. Bailey Martin is tied for No. 2 on the career point list as he has 82 points on 64 goals with 26 assists. His 56 goals also stands first on the career goal list, while senior Shea Obado (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood) continues to add to his active career record for most ground balls with 161.