Box Score MORRISVILLE, N.Y. – The Hilbert College men's lacrosse team built a one-goal lead by half time then failed to score the entire second half and dropped a 13-7 NEAC league game to Morrisville State to slip to 4-2 and 6-4 overall. Morrisville battled back and scored six unanswered goals to improve to 5-1 and secure the solo hold on second place heading into the last week of league games before play-offs.
Drew Ulbrich was the only Hawk to beat the Mustangs goalie twice. The junior midfielder also assisted once to lead Hilbert with three points.
Tyler Nicoloff was the other player to score and assists once each.
Brenden Deady faced 43 shots and was credited with 16 saves in goal for Hilbert.
Nick Kieffer won 10 (16) face-offs and earned game-high 8 ground balls.
Morrisville and Hilbert were fairly even through the first thirty minutes of play. The hosts held a four shot advantage while Hilbert scooped up five more ground balls. Hilbert converted 1 of the 3 man-up situation in the first half to take a 7-6 lead.
Morrisville struck twice by 12:45 in the opening quarter before
Tyler Nicoloff and
Drew Ulbrich reached for goals in a span of 100 seconds. The Mustangs rang two more home by 5:57 for a 4-2 lead.
Nick Kieffer hit an unassisted man-up score with 15-seconds left in the first quarter to cut the difference to one goal.
Hilbert connected three scores together behind the sticks of Ulbrich, Elliott Russiliio and
Andrew MacKay for a 6-4 lead in the second period. But Morrisville won the face-off and sprinted down the field for an unassisted tally just five seconds later.
Doug Takac took a
Matthew Simon pass to net for what turned out to be Hilbert's last score of the day with 59-seconds left in the first half. As he did earlier, Brendan Shannon secured the face-off and scored within seconds to set a 7-6 score at the break.
Both teams played even in the third quarter, on the score board. But momentum was heading in Morrisville's favor as the half progressed. The Mustangs turned up their defense and limited the Hawks to seven shots and only four of those throws were directed between the pipes. With 4:50 left in the third quarter, Morrisville struck for the period's only score to knot the game at 7-7.
Hilbert was penalized a total of 4:30 in penalty minutes in the final quarter as the Mustangs pulled away with six goals, four of which were in man-up situations. Morrisville outshot the Hawks 15-4 in the final period.
With just two games remaining on their schedule, Hilbert is set to host Cazenovia College Wednesday April 23 at 4pm. The Hawks will honor their seniors prior to the last NEAC game of the season. Hilbert closes out their regular season schedule April 26 at La Roche College.
