Oneonta, NY— Wyatt Long scored five goals with two assists as Hartwick College improved to 8-1 overall and 4-0 in the Empire 8 with a 19-7 men's lacrosse win over The Sage Colleges at Wright Stadium Wednesday afternoon. The Gators are 6-6 in the program's first season and 1-4 in the Empire 8.
Dylan Ferguson scored three goals with an assist and also had five shots, four on net. A total of 11 Hawks scored a goal each. Long had seven shot, six on net, and Garrison Wojtas and Zack Orth scooped up six ground balls each. Three goaltenders saw action for Hartwick, with C.U. Alesandrini getting the win with two saves in 30 minutes of action. Jared Tiong-Smith stopped four in 15 minutes and Christian Olsen made three saves in his 15 minutes of play.
Freshman attack Matt Fisher (Niskayuna, NY/Colonie) led the Gators with three goals and freshman midfielder David Baraniuk (Budd Lake, NY/Mount Olive) scored twice with seven shots and five ground balls. Freshman midfielder Robert Martin (Saugerties, NY/Saugerties) and fellow first year player, defender Andrew Gomo (Fairfax, VT/BFA Fairfax) each scored a goal for Sage. Freshman midfielder Shea Obado (Spotswood, NJ/Spotswood) led all players with his game best eight ground balls. Freshmen Brandon Maresca (Landing, NJ/Roxbury) made six saves in 30 minutes while freshman Michael Capitelli (Oceanside, NY/Oceanside) stopped four in his 30 minutes of play.
Both teams had 51 ground balls in the contest, while Hartwick had a 49-24 shot advantage. The Hawks failed only twice on 22 clear attempts. Sage forced 23 turnovers.
Hartwick led 7-1 after the first period and 14-2 at halftime. It was 18-4 entering the fourth period, but the Gators scored three times in that stanza, including two goals by Baraniuk.
Sage hosts Empire 8 rival Houghton College for a 3 p.m. Saturday, April 13. That game will be played at Renwyck Field at RPI in Troy. Hartwick has a league game as well, Saturday at St. John Fisher at 2 p.m.
