Box Score HAMBURG, N.Y. – Keuka College, the defending NEAC champions from one season ago, returned to action against the Hawks and sprinted to a 20-7 victory at Hilbert College April 10th. The Storm (7-0, 3-0) remained perfect in the NEAC while Hilbert fell to 3-1 (4-3 overall) after the game.
Tyler Nicoloff led the Hawks with 3 points off two goals while Matt Beebe and Cory Gray each finished with 8 points for the Storm.
As expected in a high-scoring game, action was fast and each team used the full field for their attack. Neither team gained advantages in clears (22 of 23 attempts) or in ground ball pick-ups, though they each had an impressive number of gets (38 ground balls a piece). The Hawks did not help themselves in the number of turnovers they had (28 vs 11) and penalties. Of the 20 goals scored by Keuka, the Storm converted on 3 of their 5 man-up situations. Keuka was called for only two penalties the entire game with the Hawks converting only 50%.
Keuka outshot the Hawks 58-31 with 42 shots on goal. Hilbert's
Brenden Deady made some great save between the pipes and earned his first 22-saves game stat.
Besides Nicoloff, both
Doug Takac and
Elliott Russillio found the back of the net and set a team-mate up for a score.
Andrew MacKay,
Nathaniel Hyman and Matt Simon tossed in single scores for Hilbert.
Nick Kieffer went 17 for 26 in face-offs and picked up eight ground balls along the way. Hyman scooped up second-best six ground balls while going 1 for 2 in the face-off circle.
The Storm was led in scoring by Beebe with six goals while Gray added five and one-uped Beebe in the assist column. Marc Sacco finished with seven ground balls as a defensive stopper.
Beebe gave Keuka a 2-0 lead by the time Takac tallied for Hilbert at 8:41 in the first. The Storm chipped three more goals in, two before the end of the first quarter and a man-up goal in the first minute of the second period. Russillio hooked up MacKay at 12:16 for the 5-2 score. But Keuka went on a 5-goal run to take a 10-2 lead. The Hawks cut the difference to 12-5 by intermission.
The third period saw Hilbert scoring the first and fifth goal, but the Hawks didn't defend the frame as they gave up four goals in just over ten minutes to set a 16-7 score. Keuka added four more tallies by the final horn, two of those goals in a man-up situation.
The Hawks have a few days before they return to the Varsity Field for their non-conference game against Thiel College April 12. The men are scheduled to play the first game (12pm) of a double-header Hawks lacrosse slate as the women's team completes their home portion of their season against Franciscan Saturday.
