Farmingdale State - 11, Western Connecticut - 6
FARMINGDALE, N.Y. | The Farmingdale State men's lacrosse team defeated non-conference opponent Western Connecticut State, 11-6, on Wednesday afternoon to improve to 7-1 on the season. The Wolves suffered their first loss of the season and now stand at 6-1 overall.
After each team traded goals across the first six minutes, Farmingdale State junior midfielder Kyle Kolano (Babylon, N.Y.) netted an unassisted goal with 7:19 to play in the first quarter to go up 3-2.
Just under three minutes later, senior midfielder Johnny McMahon (Albertson, N.Y.) set up senior attack Jack Gilbride (East Moriches, N.Y.) for a score as FSC went ahead by two.
The Wolves cut their deficit to 4-3 with 1:40 on the clock, but the Rams responded as freshman midfielder Connor Murtha (Moriches, N.Y.) drove to the net and dished to junior attack Thomas Stock (Selden, N.Y.) for a goal to regain a two-goal lead.
In a low-scoring second quarter, Kolano registered his third goal of the game at 4:49 before WestConn tallied a score just 1:42 before the halftime break.
Leading 6-4 heading into the third, FSC tallied three consecutive goals to take a five-goal advantage. Senior attack Rob Varello (Smithtown, N.Y.) scored an unassisted goal before setting up freshman midfielder James Hickis (Farmingdale, N.Y.) for a score.
FSC's third goal of the quarter came off a WestConn turnover, senior defender Gino Luchetti (Farmingville, N.Y.) picked up the ball, ran the length of the field and fired to the net for his first goal of the season.
The Wolves trailed 9-5 and scored just 51 seconds into the fourth to close within three at 9-6. Farmingdale State quickly answered with a McMahon goal just 1:07 later to take a 10-6 advantage.
FSC used a Varello goal with eight minutes to play to take a five-goal lead and shut down WestConn the rest of the way to pick up the 11-6 victory.
Kolano led the way with a hat trick, while Varello had two goals and an assist. Gilbride netted two goals and picked up three ground balls and McMahon finished with one goal, one assist, three ground balls and one caused turnover.
Luchetti tallied a goal, three caused turnovers and four ground balls, while sophomore midfielder Tyler Kollar (Bellport, N.Y.) and senior defender Jonathan Flores (West Babylon, N.Y.) had four ground balls and one caused turnover apiece.
Sophomore goalkeeper Dan Erler (Smithtown, N.Y.) recorded 11 saves on 17 attempts to earn his seventh win of the season.
Farmingdale State next heads on the road to play Alvernia University on Saturday, March 25th at 1:00 p.m.
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