BOXSCORE

The College at Brockport's men's lacrosse team twice rallied from two-goal deficits to pull even with State University of New York Athletic Conference (SUNYAC) rival Geneseo, but it wasn't enough as the Green and Gold fell 12-9 at Geneseo Wednesday afternoon.

 

Brockport fought hard against the Blue Knights, who were ranked No. 13 in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association's preseason coaches' poll.

 

Freshman Brendon Rothfuss (Webster, NY/Webster Thomas), senior Andy Hilton (Rochester, NY/Gates Chili) and sophomore Jesse Elliott (Clifton Park, NY/Shenendehowa) each scored two goals while senior Mike Tammaro (Painted Post, NY/Corning West) handed out four assists for the Golden Eagles (3-7 overall, 0-3 SUNYAC).

 

Rothfuss opened the scoring just 44 seconds in, but Geneseo (5-4, 2-0 SUNYAC) answered with three straight goals during a 2:21 stretch of the first quarter.

 

Hilton and Elliott each scored unassisted goals to knot the score at 3-all before the Blue Knights retook the lead, 4-3, with 2:51 remaining in the quarter.

 

Brockport found itself trailing 6-4 at halftime, but the Green and Gold came out fired up in the second half and tied the game on two quick third-quarter goals. Elliott scored on a man-up situation, with an assist to Tammaro, and senior Justin Tierney (Baldwinsville, NY/C.W. Baker) once again tied the score with an unassisted goal just 14 seconds after Elliott's goal.

 

Geneseo responded with two quick goals of its own to take an 8-6 lead before freshman Bryon Palmer (Johnson City, NY/Johnson City) scored off a feed from Hilton to pull the Green and Gold within one with 7:56 remaining in the third.

 

The Blue Knights scored the next four goals to take a 12-7 lead and despite Rothfuss and Hilton scoring just seven seconds apart in the fourth, Brockport wasn't able to get any closer than three. Hilton's final goal came on a man-up situation with 3:52 remaining.

 

Junior Nate Thomas (Cortland, NY/Cortland) won 8 of 16 faceoffs and also scooped up both a game- and career-high eight ground balls for Brockport.

 

Senior Jon Fiorillo (Painted Post, NY/Corning West) made 11 saves for the Green and Gold.

 

Brockport returns to action on Saturday when the Green and Gold welcome SUNYAC rival Plattsburgh to Bob Boozer Field at Eunice Kennedy Shriver Stadium.