Saratoga Springs, N.Y.-- Matt Levesque (Duxbury, Mass./Duxbury) scored seven goals to lead the Skidmore College men's lacrosse team to a 14-7 win over Amherst College Tuesday night at Wachenheim Field. The Thoroughbreds improve to 5-1, while the Lord Jeffs drop to 3-3.

Levesque opened the scoring at 12:37 of the first quarter then Cory Barkoff (Woodbury, N.Y.) won the ensuing faceoff and went in to score six seconds later for a 2-0 Skidmore lead. Amherst tied it 2-2 on goals by Brett Miller and Thomas McDonnell. Levesque put the Thoroughbreds back in front from Nick Coppola (Basking Ridge, N.J.) at 6:35. The Lord Jeff fired off three straight to take a 5-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Levesque cut the lead to one at 10:30 of the second, but Alex Miller responded at 9:34 to give Amherst a 6-4 lead. Rob Lutin (Port Washington, N.Y.) and Coppola combined for goals at 3:16 and 1:20 to tie the game at the half 6-6.

The second half was all Skidmore. Levesque and Amherst's Rob Denious traded goals to open the third quarter, but the Thoroughbreds would go on a 7-0 run to close out the game. Highlighting the run was a goal by Tom Levesque with 11 seconds to play in the third, followed by Barkoff taking another faceoff in to score with three seconds left in the quarter.

Matt Levesque finished with seven goals and assist, while Lutin had three goals, and Coppola had a goal, four assists, and three ground balls. Jacques Ward (New York, N.Y./Governors) had six ground balls and Scott Grillo (Wellesley, Mass./Wellesley) had five ground balls and a caused turnover.

McDonnell had two goals for Amherst. Flip Bongaerts (Summerland, Calif./New Canaan) had 12 saves in goal for Skidmore. Matt Pietroforte stopped 11 shots in 49 minutes for the Lord Jeffs.

Skidmore opens Liberty League play on Saturday at St. Lawrence.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The Amherst College men's lacrosse team traveled to Upstate New York to take on the Skidmore College Thoroughbreds this evening in non-conference action in Saratoga Springs. The Lord Jeffs sat tied 6-6 at the half, before seeing Skidmore run away to a 14-7 win.

Skidmore scored the game's opening goal with 12:37 remaining in the first quarter, taking advantage of a failure-to-advance call against the Lord Jeffs. Matt Levesque scored the goal, before Cory Barkoff took the ensuing face-off straight down for an unassisted tally just six seconds later. Just like that, Amherst was looking at 2-0 hole early on.

The Lord Jeffs responded with 10:58 to play, as Brett Miller (Wantagh, NY) used an inside-roll to break in alone on Skidmore goalie Flip Bongearts for the score. Less than a minute later, Amherst scored on a man-up goal as Miller found Tom McDonnell (Manhasset, NY) for the equalizer.

With 6:35 to play in the quarter, Skidmore regained the lead with a well-executed fast-break as Levesque took a Nick Coppola feed on the crease for the finish. Amherst responded after just 15 seconds, when first-year Evan Redwood (Lutherville, MD) found long-stick midfielder Parker Holcomb (Dallas, TX) 15 yards out for a laser.

The Lord Jeffs took their first lead of the game at 4-3, when Redwood found McDonnell with pass on the doorstep for a quick finish moments later. The Amherst advantage grew to 5-3 with 1:55 to play in the first, as Luke Arnold (Lincoln, MA) took a rebound and beat Bongearts with the score up top.

Skidmore closed the gap with 10:30 to play, as Levesque scored again. Amherst opened the margin back to 6-4 with 9:34 to go, as Alex Miller (Sudbury, MA) took a ground ball in for a score. The gap shrank to 6-5 with 3:16 to play in the second half as Skidmore's Rob Lutin took a Coppola feed for a quick-stick score in transition. The Thoroughbreds tied the game at 6-6 with 1:20 to play as Lutin scored on a hard left-handed shot from the right side.

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2009-03-25