ONEONTA, N.Y. – Martin O'Brien (West Springfield, Mass.) netted three goals and Mike Szpiech (Hamilton, Ontario) added two as Elmira held off Hartwick 9-8 in an Empire 8 Conference men's lacrosse tilt, Saturday evening at Wright Stadium.

The Soaring Eagles, who improved to 2-7 overall, trailed 5-4 at the midway point of the third quarter. O'Brien triggered four unanswered Elmira goals with his third of the game with 7:51 left in the third. Moments later, Sean Slater (Ashland, Mass.) gave the Soaring Eagles the lead for good with his third of the year at 5:58. Brandon Brennan (Manassas, Va.) and Dan Frost (Bow, N.H.) tacked on scores at 4:51 and 4:29 to give Elmira an 8-5 lead after the third quarter.

Hartwick opened scoring in the fourth as Vito DeMola (Holtsville, N.Y.) netted his 27th goal of the year. However, the Eagles would regain the three-goal lead with 9:44 left as Mike Bialick (Lebanon, N.J.) posted his 13th of the year. Hartwick scored the final two goals of the game, including one with one second left in the contest to pull within one.

Elmira jumped out to a 3-0 lead after the first quarter. O'Brien opened the scoring at 12:17 and then recorded a man-up score at the 9:24 mark of the period. Szpiech closed the scoring at 3:30 after converting a feed from Frost.

The Hawks rallied by scoring three goals within a 1:53 stretch in the second. Dan Hushion (Farmingdale, N.Y.) scored twice within 34 seconds and then DeMola netted his first of the game with 7:33 left in the frame. The Soaring Eagles took a 4-3 lead into intermission on Szpiech's second goal of the game with 6:08 left in the first half.

Hartwick tied the contest at 11:36 of the third as Brandon Wilk (Hillsborough, N.J.) converted his eight goal of the year. Chris Vogler (Lynnfield, Mass.) gave the Hawks their lone lead of the game at 5-4 13 seconds later.

Geoffrey Lane (Pennington, N.J.) recorded 17 saves in the victory, including six in the final quarter. John Meade (Fire Island, N.Y.) saved five in the loss for the Hawks.

Hartwick returns to action Wednesday evening as it travels to face arch-rival Utica. Opening face-off is scheduled for a 4:00 p.m. start.

2008-04-06