Farmingdale State - 9, Oneonta State - 8 (OT)
Farmingdale, N.Y. - Four straight goals gave the Farmingdale State men's lacrosse team a 9-8 overtime victory in today's non-conference game against Oneonta State (0-2). The Rams improved to 1-1 with the win on junior attacker Philip Schaefer's (Holbrook, N.Y.) goal with 36 seconds left in overtime.
Farmingdale State led 3-0 after the first period, with an 11-4 ground ball advantage as they held the Red Dragons to three shots on goal. Rams freshman attack Conor McNamara (Levittown, N.Y.) scored the first goal off an assist from junior midfielder Donovan Devaney (East Northport, N.Y.), while the two other goals were scored by Schaefer.
In the second period, Oneonta got two goals on the board in the first ten minutes before Farmingdale freshman attack Tyler Rifice (Bohemia, N.Y.) added one for the Rams to hold a 4-2 edge at the halftime break.
Oneonta controlled the third period with 11 ground balls and forcing six turnovers as they posted three goals to take a 5-2 lead.
In the fourth, Oneonta added two more to nearly put the game out of reach at 7-4, before Schaefer made it 7-5 with an unassisted goal. Sophomore attack Devon Casey (Garden City, N.Y.) gave the Red Dragons a three goal lead with an unassisted goal at 7:29.
With 3:39 on the clock and trailing 8-5, Rams' freshman midfielder Ryan McArdle (East Northport, N.Y.) scored on a bounce shot off a pass from Schaefer to cut the deficit to two. Rifice then connected a minute later to make it 8-7 with 2:38 remaining in regulation, assisted by senior midfielder Andrew Incantalupo (Shirley, N.Y.). The game-tying came with 48 seconds to go, a pass from Schaefer sent home by freshman midfielder Daniel Desimone (Plainview, N.Y.).
Oneonta opted not to shoot and held the ball over the final seconds to secure the opening possession in overtime. At the 1:43 mark in OT, freshman goalkeeper Nicholas Fasano (Franklin Square, N.Y.) saved a point blank shot to keep his team in the game. With 47 seconds on the clock and Oneonta clearing the ball, Rifice forced a turnover, picked up the ground ball and dished it up to Schaefer who sent it home for the game-winning score.
For Farmingdale State, Schaefer recorded a game-high six points on four goals and two assists, while Rifice had two goals and one assist. Devaney was 12-for-16 on faceoffs and picked up five ground balls. Senior midfielder Vincent Aniano (Oceanside, N.Y.) led the team with six ground balls. Fasano picks up his first career win with two saves in 13:48, while sophomore Thomas Fallon (Kings Park, N.Y.) made 10 saves in 49 minutes of work.
The Red Dragons were led by Casey with three goals and sophomore attack Josh Heller (Plainview, N.Y.) tallied two goals and an assist. Sophomore goalie Kevin Fitzpatrick (Rocky Point, N.Y.) had eight saves in defeat.
The Rams will now be traveling on their spring trip to North Carolina with a game on Tuesday, March 4th at Guilford at 4:00 p.m. and Saturday, March 8th at Greensboro at 1:00 p.m.
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