Fields's Eight-Point Day Leads UAlbany Men's Lacrosse to Win Capital District Battle vs. Siena 17-8
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ALBANY, N.Y. – The UAlbany men's lacrosse team proved itself the top dog in the Capital District for the third straight season with a 17-8 victory over Siena off eight points from Connor Fields.
Down 2-1 early, UAlbany (11-2) broke away with three runs of at least 4-0 during the game against Siena (3-8), including outscoring the Saints 6-1 in the fourth quarter.
“I thought we started a little slow, and give Siena credit, they played hard and their offense looked very good,” said UAlbany head coach Scott Marr. “I thought we stuck with our gameplan and kept working, and at halftime we talked about having more fun, and we came out a lot looser in the second half.”
UAlbany has won eight consecutive games and complete the regular season with a perfect 7-0 home record. In addition, in the Division I era, the Great Danes hold a 12-2 record against crosstown rival Siena.
Fields tied a season-high with eight points, the third time this season he has achieved that mark in 2016, off four goals and four assists, including having a hand in all goals on UAlbany's first 5-0 run. Fields surpassed the 100-career goal mark and tied the 150-point mark with his performance tonight.
Seth Oakes and Justin Reh each had a hat trick while Eli Lasda had two goals. Blaze Riorden earned the win with 10 saves in the 60 minutes in goal. Zach Ornstein won 19-of-26 faceoffs on the night, adding nine ground balls and a goal.
Chris Robertson led Siena with two goals and two assists, adding three ground balls, while Jordan Barlow had two goals plus an assist. Tommy Cordts got the loss in goal with three saves and 14 goals allowed in 48:56 of play.
Siena won the first three faceoffs, and after a Reh goal, the Saints had two possessions with at least two shots, with Michael Pettit and Barlow hitting goals for an early 2-1 visitors lead. Siena had another long possession with four shots, all off the goal, as UAlbany turned it over twice. After Riorden saved a Mike Vitale shot, a quick shot from Fields in transition tied the game. UAlbany cleared the ball in the final 11 seconds of the quarter and fired away as Fields picked up a ground ball and hit a shot as the clocked expired to put UAlbany up 3-2.
Ornstein started winning faceoffs as Fields hit a third-straight goal off a screen, then assisted Bennett Drake on a catch and shoot minutes later. After Riorden saved two shots as Siena held the ball almost three minutes, Oakes buried the high-powered shot from Fields to put UAlbany up 6-2, completing the 5-0 run.
Siena got two goals back in the coming minutes from Brian Prunty and Kevin Cousin to pull the visitors back within two. John Maloney added a goal back with 1:10 left in the half to make the score 7-4 UAlbany at the half.
UAlbany held possession in the opening 3:24 of the second half with three won faceoffs as Adam Osika scored off the runner from Fields, then Ornstein scored off the faceoff. UAlbany added another goal off a second chance shot from Lasda to complete the 4-0 run. After Robertson scored off a two-minute Siena possession, Oakes got the goal right back for UAlbany after getting the pass from Troy Reh. Siena kept close and scored the final two goals of the quarter as UAlbany led 11-7 after three.
UAlbany's faceoff dominance continued to pay dividends as the Great Danes expanded the lead quickly to begin the fourth. John Glancy set up Lasda for the shot and score one minute in, Sean Eccles hit a laser shot on man-up 27 seconds later, then Fields added one more at the 12:07 mark. UAlbany drew another penalty, and Oakes netted a shot six seconds into the man-up chance. A Reh goal made it 16-7 UAlbany with 7:32 to play.
Each side added one more goal, with Barlow scoring with 5:48 left and Reh adding another with 1:08 to play, to set the 17-8 final score.
UAlbany now heads south to Baltimore to take on UMBC on Saturday, April 30th at 3 p.m. in search for the program's fourth straight perfect America East regular season.
