Albany, NY—The Gators of Russell Sage College hosted the Wildcats of Cazenovia College on Tuesday night and had an impressive showing. The team exploded for a season-high seven goals, while sophomore Jake Spero (Poughkeepsie, NY/Spackenkill) exploded for a hat trick to pace the team in the match. RSC is now 4-4-1 overall, while Cazenovia drops to 4-5. The seven goals in a contest for the Gators is tied for the third most in a game, while the 20 points ranks fifth best.
Freshman Joe Piperata (Rensselaer, NY/Catholic Central) gave the Gators a 1-0 lead with the first of his two goals at 5:13. He added a second goal at 37:10. RSC led 3-0 at the half as Spero scored the first of his goals at 43:33.
Senior midfielder Christian Vaalstuen (Lillestrom, Norway) and senior forward Jeaneste Pierre (Newburgh, NY/Newburgh Free Academy) each added a goal and an assist to help the Gators' cause in the contest. Pierre leads the Gators in scoring this fall with nine points, while pushing his career resume to include 39 career points on 17 goals and five assists. He ranks sixth in career points, tied for fourth in goals, and 14th in assists. Vaalstuen is also tied for 14th in career assists.
RSC's sophomore keeper Nolan Murphy (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) picked up the shutout victory, the first of his career as he made two saves and stands at 1-3 in net. Cazenovia's rookie Hayden McBath (Lisbon, NY/Lisbon) took the loss with three goals allowed in the start in net in 45 minutes of work as he also had seven saves. He drops to 3-3, while senior Andrew McLean (Lowville, NY/Lowville) worked the second half with four saves and four goals allowed.
RSC is back in action on October 2 traveling to Nazareth College for a 2 p.m. road Empire 8 contest.
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