Farmingdale State - 13, Vassar - 8

Farmingdale, N.Y. - The Farmingdale State men's lacrosse team took today's non-conference game with a 13-8 victory over visiting Vassar College. The Rams improve to 1-2 with the win, while Vassar falls to 2-1 overall.

Farmingdale held a 5-2 advantage after the first period led by two goals by freshman midfielder Donovan Devaney (Northport, N.Y.) and senior attack Ryan Oswald (Floral Park, N.Y.), and two assists from senior midfielder Tim Caden (Setauket, N.Y.). In the second, Vassar shut down the Rams, holding them to just five shots, and tying the game at 5-5 with a goal from senior midfielder Matthew Pearce (Alpharetta, Ga.) and two goals by senior midfielder Jeff Lee (Syosset, N.Y.).

The Rams scored three goals in the first 10 minutes of the third period, including a man-up goal by junior midfielder Bobby Thomas (Wantagh, N.Y.), assisted by Caden, and held the 8-5 lead with 4:20 to play. Vassar responded with two goals in a 34-second span to cut the deficit to one, 8-7, before Thomas scored another for Farmingdale State to push the lead back to two, 9-7.

In the fourth, The Rams held Vassar to eight shots and forced seven turnovers. Vassar senior attack Jack Gross (Yarmouth, Me.) gave his team a chance as he scored with 4:47 left to play, but Farmingdale State would score four unanswered goals over the final 2:25 and take the non-conference victory.

The Farmingdale State attack was led by Caden with four points, along with Thomas, Devaney and Oswald with three points each. Devaney picked up a game-high eight ground balls and won 6-of-13 faceoffs. Sophomore midfielder Al Rocco (Elmont, N.Y.) won 7-of-12 faceoffs. Defensively, junior Jack Radin (Long Beach, N.Y.) caused three turnovers and had four ground balls, while junior midfielder Josh Lamantia (Setauket, N.Y.) finished with three ground balls and two caused turnovers. Senior goalkeeper Patrick Delventhal (Westbury, N.Y.) won his first game of the season making 10 saves.

For Vassar, sophomore goalkeeper Andrew Nicol (Carmel, N.Y.) made 11 saves in defeat. Gross and Lee both led the team with two goals and one assist. Junior defender Casey Rice (Scottsdale, Ariz.) and senior defender Stephen Kozey (Syosset, N.Y.) each caused four turnovers.

The Rams will now face Hartwick on Saturday, March 11 at 1:00 p.m. This will be the Rams final home game until Saturday, April 14, playing seven straight road games.

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