Old Westbury, N.Y. - Sophomore Kevin Hennessy (West Babylon, N.Y.) scored four goals and added an assist as the #2 NYIT Bears pulled away from Adelphi for a 13-9 win in East Coast Conference men's lacrosse action this afternoon. The win improves NYIT to 8-0 on the season and 3-0 in the ECC, while Adelphi falls to 5-5 overall and 1-2 in the league.

The Panthers jumped out to a 1-0 lead four minutes into the first period as Jason Fietta scored off of a feed from Stephen Mortimer. NYIT responded by scoring four consecutive goals over the next three minutes. Sophomore Al Maione (West Islip, N.Y.) tied the score at 1-1 with 8:45 remaining, sophomore Jeremy Hobson (Riverhead, N.Y.) followed just over a minute later to give the Bears their first lead and Hennessy netted back-to-back scores 28 seconds apart to give NYIT a 4-1 advantage with 6:01 left in the quarter.

Adelphi came out in the second quarter and outscored NYIT 4-2. Fietta and Ian Kutchta sandwiched scores around Hobson's second goal of the day to make it 5-3 and after Hennessy's third goal of the game gave NYIT a 6-3 lead, Adelphi ripped off three straight scores. Kutchta started the scoring, Fietta followed with his third of the day and Brandon Butler tied the game at 6-6 with just 2:13 remaining in the half.

Sophomore Matt Messina (Sayville, N.Y.) scored the last goal of the half and gave NYIT the lead for good with 1:31 left in the second quarter. Starting with Messina's score and spanning the third and fourth quarters, the Bears would take control of the game by scoring seven of the next nine goals. Graduate student Paul Flowers (London, England) followed Messina, scoring the first goal of the second half at 7:04 of the third quarter to give NYIT an 8-6 lead.

After Fietta netted his fourth of the day to bring the Panthers to within 8-7, the Bears reeled off three straight scores and five of the next six goals, including two scores from Maione, to build a commanding 13-8 lead with 8:46 left in the game. Kutchta scored his fourth of the game with 1:45 remaining to provide the final score.

Maione finished with three goals, Hobson added two and Sullivan dished out three assists on the afternoon. Sophomore Dan Goosk (Oceanside, N.Y.) made 10 saves, including five in the third quarter, in 60 minutes of action.

Fietta led the Panthers with four goals and an assists and Kuchta added four goals in the loss.

The game was evenly played, with both teams recording 36 shots and going 1-4 on extra man opportunities. NYIT picked up 50 ground balls to the Panthers 39, but Adelphi held the slight advantage in face-offs, winning 13-24.

The Bears return to action this weekend, hosting Dowling College this Saturday, April 21 at 1:00 p.m.

Score by Period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
ADELPHI.............  2  4  1  2 -  9
NYIT................  5  2  3  3 - 13
 
Attendance: 336
 
ADELPHI SCORING:
GOALS: Fietta, Jason 4; Kuchta, Ian 4; Butler, Brandon 1.
ASSISTS: Burton, Tyler 1; Fietta, Jason 1; Gongas, Michael 1;
         Mortimer, Stephen 1.
 
NYIT SCORING:
GOALS: Hennessy, Kevin 4; Maione, Al 3; Hobson, Jeremy 2; Messina,
       Matt 1; Carino, Austin 1; Gencorelli, Chris 1; Flowers, Paul 1.
ASSISTS: Sullivan, Matt 3; Delillo, Jake 1; Hennessy, Kevin 1.
 
Shots by period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
ADELPHI............. 13  8  8  7 - 36
NYIT................  9  7 10 10 - 36
 
Ground balls by prd   1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
ADELPHI............. 10  9 14  6 - 39
NYIT................ 12 11 14 13 - 50
 
Face-offs by prd       1     2     3     4    Total
---------------------------------------------------
ADELPHI.............  3-7   3-6   5-5   2-6  - 13-24
NYIT................  4-7   3-6   0-5   4-6  - 11-24
 
Clears by period       1     2     3     4    Total
---------------------------------------------------
ADELPHI.............  4-5   5-7   4-8   4-6  - 17-26
NYIT................  4-5   4-8   5-8   3-3  - 16-24
 
Extra-man opps         1     2     3     4    Total
---------------------------------------------------
ADELPHI.............  0-1   1-2   0-0   0-1  -  1-4
NYIT................  1-2   0-0   0-1   0-1  -  1-4
 
Saves by period       1  2  3  4  Tot
-------------------------------------
ADELPHI.............  3  2  3  5 - 13
NYIT................  4  1  5  0 - 10
 
PENALTIES - ADELPHI 4/3:00; NYIT 4/3:30.

2007-04-14