Aquinas 11 - Churchville-Chili 8

 -- Aquinas played four strong quarters and never gave up as they defeated Churchville-Chili 11-8. However, in the last 0:44 seconds four unsportsmanlike conduct penalties were issued including two ejections for fighting. Barring the final minute, that contest was close the entire game with Aquinas showing that they had the depth to win.

Churchville-Chili only fielded 16 players during the game, and had a set game plan in effect from the opening face-off. Keith Preston, who finished the game 12/20, won the first three face-offs and kept the ball in Churchville's hands for the first 8:08. It wasn't until three goals later with 3:52 remaining in the first quarter that Aquinas had the first offensive possession. Churchville controlled the ball and the tempo of the game. The Saints scored their first goal with 9:11 remaining as Preston passed the ball to Scott Shamp on the crease who turned and fired a low shot between the legs of goalie Kraig Heston. Heston finished the game with 8s/8ga (50%). The Saints continued their patience and controlled the ball for another three minutes until Alex Pavone scored in man-up with an assist from Jon Hemink. Churchville-Chili scored three man-up goals and one man-down goal during the contest. The final goal of the first quarter was scored by the same athletes, but in reverse as Pavone found Hemink alone at GLE during an extra man possession. Churchville led 3-0 after the first quarter.

The second quarter saw much of the same from the Saints. The quarter began with a one minute stick penalty against the Saints. However, Aquinas could not capitalize and Churchville was back on offense after a take from Austin Kuntz. Another penalty from the Little Irish and the Saints had their fifth EMO of the night, and they did capitalize on the situation. Hemink found Ryan Yunker from his spot behind the cage for the 4-0 goal. At this point the Little Irish began to settle down. The penalties stopped, for the time being, and the Little Irish were able to get their offense going. The first Aquinas goal came at 6:18 remaining in the second quarter when Mike Messina scored on a fast-break. The ensuing face-off was awarded to Aquinas via a technical. Cameron Corsaro received the initial pass and ran behind the cage and quickly feed Anthony Bianchi on the crease for the second goal of the night for AQ. With six minutes remaining in the quarter, the Saints fell back into the slow, patient offense. They maintained the ball for nearly all of the final three minutes. However with less than 30 second remaining, Aquinas took control of the ball and after a fast break, Austin Gorman scored on a fast-break with 0:08 remaining. The Saints were still leading 4-3 at halftime.

At this point it began to become obvious that Churchville was becoming slower and getting tired. Although there heart was still present one could tell that the lack of substitutes was becoming obvious. Aquinas continued their pressure after the half, scoring from a face-off in fast break from the opening face-off. Manny Magliocco scooped up the ground ball around the restraining line and was uncontested as he ran towards the goal and found Gorman at the last moment for the goal. Aquinas had tied the game, but Churchville-Chili still had some fight in them. Shamp had his second goal of the night at 8:24 remaining in the third. Shamp was on the crease and after a scuffle, popped up with the ball and quickly fired it into the net. The Saints added one more goal with Zach Yehl scoring with a straight drive from the top. The Saints were back up 6-4 but Aquinas scored the next three goals straight and seven of the next eight goals over the next two quarters. Aquinas scorers included Gorman, Messina, Bianchi, Bernard Gauthier and Klay Heston. Churchville-chili scored the final goal of the game with 3:17 remaining after a face-off fast break.

With 0:44 remaining excellent lacrosse was overshadowed by a series of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. The series began with a take by Aquinas goalie Kraig Heston behind the cage. Heston was pressured out of bounds after he released the ball up field for a clear. After getting back in bounds, the official threw a flag on Heston. Since Aquinas had the ball, play was stopped. On the way to explain the penalty to the bench, a different Aquinas player had words with the official and also had a flag thrown. Both players received one minute non-releasable unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and Churchville was awarded the ball with a two man advantage. The Little Irish, however, took back control of the ball and tossed it towards their attack end of the field. After a battle for the groundball, Gorman came up with the ball behind GLE where he kept possession of the ball for the remaining penalty time. After time expired Gorman was hit from behind by a Churchville player. This began the second series of unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. A number of players from both teams began to throw punches and one player from each team was given Unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and were ejected from the game.

Overall, it was a great contest between two strong teams. The closely contested game was an excellent one for the beginning of the season. Both teams were close on the statistics with Churchville-Chili leading 39-35 on groundballs. Both teams had 9 takes. Churchville-Chili took 34 shots with 17 on cage while Aquinas took 24 shots with 15 on cage.

Leading groundballs for Aquinas were Messina (6) and Gauthier (5). Preston (7), Yehl (5), Ben Swan (5) and Kuntz (5) led for the Saints. In takes, Swam and Nick Bruno each had three for Churchville and Anthony Starnino, Gauthier and Messina each had two for the Little Irish. Messina was also 6/13 at the face-off.

Scoring for Aquinas were Gorman (4g-2a), Gauthier (2g-1a), Bianchi (2g), Messina (2g), Klay Heston (1g), Magliocco (1a), and Corsaro (1a). Kraig Heston had 8s/8ga (50%) and Brendan Hall had 1s for the Little Irish.

Scoring for Churchville-Chili were Hemink (2g-2a), Yehl (2g), Shamp (2g), Pavone (1g-1a), Yunker (1g), and Preston (1a). Adam Difulvio had 4s/11ga for the Saints.

For a more complete look at the numbers, check out the full statistics.

Bath 11 - Newark 8

-- Bath wasted no time, taking an 8-3 first quarter lead on the way to an 11-8 win over Newark at a game held at Alfred University this afternoon. The Rams scored one unanswered goal in the second and then one more each in the third and fourth. The Reds scored two in the third and three in the last quarter.

"Camblin played great in the second half keeping Newark in the game. His brother Robert Camblin played good defense and had 6 ground balls in the game," said Newark Coach Matt Groot.

Leading the scoring for Bath was sophomore middie Nick Rossi (5g-1a) and sophomore attackman Zach Reed (2g-2a). Adding one goal each were senior middie Andy Nesbitt, junior defenseman Tim Wolfer, junior attackman Mark Martuscello and sophomore midfielder Drew Wager. Sophomore Middie Brian Gable added an assist and senior goalie Chris Wolfer recorded 7 saves for the Rams in the first game of the season.

Scoring for Newark were junior attackman Luke Hartman (3g), sophomore attackman Jack Timerson (1g), senior middies RJ VanDeMortel (2g-1a) and John Gonzalez (1g-2a), sophomore middie Eli Ebanks (1a) and junior attackman Ryan Kommer (1g). Freshman goalie Dominic Camblin recorded 12 saves for the Reds.

Pittsford 6 - Frontier 5

-- Junior attackman James Purpura scored the game winning goal with 2:40 remaining in the game as Pittsford started their 2009 season with a 6-5 win over Frontier (Section 6). The night game, conducted under mostly rainy conditions was played at St. John Fisher College.

Scoring for Pittsford were Sophomore attackmen Matt Gold (2g-1a) and Alex Kober (2g). Purpura and sophomore middie James Burke each added one goal while senior middie Brian Kelly added one assist. Senior goalie Harry Goluses had 13 saves for the Panthers.