#12 University of Albany Men's Lacrosse Beats #6 Georgetown In Saturday Scrimmage - UAlbany Sports

Hey, everyone. Last time I’m gonna write “scrimmage report” this year, I think. Just got back from Multi-Sport Field in D.C., where the Georgetown-Albany scrimmage, both team’s final warmup of the year, has ended. It was a tremendously fun afternoon of lacrosse that gave the fans in attendance lots of bang for their buck. The day started at 12:45 p.m. with situational drills and then about an hour later, a five-quarter scrimmage was held.

It’s an interesting itinerary — one that few other teams in the country would follow during a scrimmage day. But it makes sense, especially given that Albany traveled down to D.C. specifically for the scrimmage and both coaches wanted to take advantage of the training opportunity.

The situational drills were particularly fun to watch and gave fans a great chance to look at the different combos from each team (more on that below). The teams started with 10 minutes of six vs. six, with Albany’s D taking on the Georgetown offense at one end of the field and the converse at the other. After that, the defenses dropped a man and the teams practiced man-up/man-down for 10 minutes. Finally, it was time for face-offs. There were 15 face-off sequences taken, with each one ending only after the winning team managed to advance the ball into the opponent’s defensive box (unofficially, I had Georgetown winning 9 of the 15).

After that, the teams huddled in the end zones and came out for a five-quarter scrimmage. Georgetown coach Dave Urick told me before the game that the first quarter would really be the fifth quarter for both teams — that they would play the freshmen and backups while they were warm rather than having them wait for four quarters in (relatively) chilly temps.

So, with that caveat, here’s the unofficial score of the last four quarters...

Albany 12, Georgetown 11

Here are the goal and assist totals:

Albany
Brian Caulfield 2G, 2A
Joe Resetarits 2G, 1A
Derek Kreuzer 1G
John Carroll 1A
Mark Cometti 2G
Corey Small 2G
Joe Pompo 1G
John Alpizar 2A
Dave Brock 2G

Georgetown
Scott Kocis 2G, 1A
Andrew Brancaccio 1G, 2A (both on Kocis goals)
Dan D’Agnes 1G
Ricky Mirabito 2G
Todd Cochran 2G (one lefty shot)
Brett Weiss 1G
Craig Dowd 1G,2A
Zack Angel 1G (scored as attack)

Keep in mind, there were a lot of personnel wrinkles thrown out there today and players weren’t always matching up with the opposing team’s top units, so please take all scoring numbers with a grain of salt.

Here’s my team breakdowns for the day, along with postgame audio interviews:

Albany
Click below to listen to a postgame interview with coach Scott Marr

*As we noted in our preseason preview, Albany’s midfield had the most question marks of any Great Dane unit coming in, but there’s a lot of talent to work with. Junior Mark Cometti and senior John Alpizar were the main guys on line one. They don’t have too much size, but Alpizar in particular is a nifty dodger and had a sweet feed to sophomore Brian Caulfield for a behind-the-back goal in the fourth quarter.

*Sophomores Kyle Crotty, Joe Pompo, Derek Kreuzer and Herkimer junior transfer Dave Brock all saw some time with the top midfield unit. Brock’s two goals came against Georgetown’s backup goalie in the fourth quarter, but he had some opportunities that he didn’t finish earlier in the game against their starters. Also saw a bit of freshman Rocky Bonitatibus, who didn’t get as much run as I thought he would.

*Attack is the offense’s bread and butter. Freshman Joe Resetarits looked great and can shoot the lights out. Caulfield is the team’s go-to guy, though. He looks equally comfortable scoring and feeding. And then there’s Corey Small, who has great hands and can get his shot off from anywhere.

*I liked this man-up combo from Albany: Caulfield, Pompo, Kreuzer, Small, Brock and Resetarits.

*Defensively, this is a top notch unit. They played a combination of a matchup zone and some man-to-man throughout the day. Defensive guys were senior Garrett Pedley, sophomore Mike Banks, junior Brendan Gleason (LSM) and junior Mark Kelly. Senior Chris Schongar also got a lot of run at LSM and on wings and sophomore Scott Raffensperger, who coach Marr likes a lot, was the pole on Georgetown’s best middie during his time out there.

*Sophomore Mike Banks, our cover boy in October, was on Ricky Mirabito in man-to-man matchups and can cover a lot of ground quickly. He seems to be given the green light to be aggressive, too. At one point, he came out from goal-line extended to poke the ball away from a Georgetown midfielder before retreating into formation.

*Freshman GK John Caroll got the start in the first half, making (unofficially) 11 saves and allowing 6 goals. Pretty impressive stuff from him. He also got an assist on an errant clearance pass to midfield. It went too far and turned into a home run pass that sophomore attackman Brian Caulfield caught off the bounce and finished. He also pulled a Queener at one point, making an acrobatic catch on a clear at the top of the box and taking the ball over midfield.

*Senior GK Dan McKeon played in the second half, notching 5 saves, and redshirt Drew DiCioccio spelled him in the fourth quarter. In case you were wondering, McKeon played with the main d-unit in the six-on-six drills. Wonder who Scotty Marr will go with against Denver next week.

*Got to be careful about penalties, though. At one point, Gleason was charged with a tripping and a slashing penalty within one second. He went to the box for a two minute session.

*The one weak spot for Albany today was at the face-off X — Georgetown won 14 of the 22 face-offs, unofficially. Freshman Keith Olsen and junior Kevin Courtney were the main draw takers for the Great Danes.

*Albany drove down Friday night for the scrimmage — seven hours in total —and were getting on the bus to head back to the N.Y. capital as I left Georgetown’s campus. Good prep for later in the season, but for the time being, they’ll stay in Albany. Three of their first four games are at home.

by Jon Brand