Warriors Fall Short Against Elmira
Three Late Unanswered Scores Propel Soaring Eagles
Box Score

WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. --- Lycoming men’s lacrosse, playing for the first time since February 25, let a two-goal third quarter lead slip away by surrendering a trio of unanswered goals to Elmira College as the Warriors came up short 6-5 to the Soaring Eagles on Tuesday afternoon.  Lycoming drops to 0-2 on the season while Elmira improves to 3-1.

The Warriors controlled most of the momentum through the first two and a half periods in moving out to a 5-3 lead with 4:51 to play in the third frame, but Elmira buckled down and took advantage of several costly Warrior miscues to pull ahead by game’s end.

Sophomore Matt Lando (Corning, N.Y./Corning Painted Post) led the Warrior attack with two goals and an assist to give him a team-best six points on the season (four goals, two assists).  Junior Tom Nairn (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) and sophomores Justin Dixon (Baltimore, Md./North County) and Dan Conkright (Spring City, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) each notched a goal in the effort.  Fellow second-year player Dan Cannon (Orangeville, Ontario) chipped in with an assist.

Sean Slater and Mike Szpiech tallied a pair of scores to lead the Eagles with Szpiech also notching an assist.  Greg Hanson and Brandon Brennan also score goals while Dave Beriau and Daniel Graves pitched in a pair of helpers.

Brennan opened the game’s scoring with a little under 10 minutes to play in the first quarter to give Elmira an early 1-0 edge.  Lando answered with the first of his two goals at the 4:52 mark.  The score remained tied until Slater regained the Soaring Eagles advantage with his first goal just 44 seconds into the second frame.  Conkright and Dixon brought a little warmth to the frigid blue and gold faithful, beating keeper Alex Jacques within 2:20 of each other for a 3-2 lead that carried into the intermission.

Hanson needed only 3:41 into the third quarter to tie the score for the third time, beating Warrior sophomore keeper Matt Lyons (Radnor, Pa./Conestoga) on an unassisted effort.  Lycoming responded with its second two-goal spurt of the game, moving out to a 5-3 advantage with 4:51 to play in the third period following goals by Lando and Nairn.

Elmira took the wind out of Lycoming’s sail with a quick retaliation on Szpiech’s first goal just 50 seconds after Nairn’s tally.

The Soaring Eagles carried the momentum into the final stanza, tying the score on Szpeich’s second tally off a seam-splitting pass from Graves.  Slater gave Elmira the lead for good, weaving through the Warrior defense for an unassisted goal and a 6-5 score line.

Lycoming is next in action on Saturday, March 18, as the Warriors travel to DeSales University for the first Middle Atlantic Conference match of the season.  Game time is set for 2:00 p.m. in Center Valley.