#18/17 UAlbany Uses Top-Offensive Performance Ever to Crush #9/10 UMass 25-10

AMHERST, Mass. – Led by 23 points from the Thompson trio, the #18/17 UAlbany men’s lacrosse team took down one of the top defenses in DI, defeating #9/10 UMass 25-10 on the road on Saturday. UAlbany (2-2) ties its top offensive game tally in its history, matching its 25 goals against Hartford in a 25-9 victory on March 26, 2005. UAlbany achieved this goal against a defense that ranked third in Division I in goals allowed per game (5.5) coming into this game. This is the first time since 2006 that the road team has won this matchup, when UAlbany defeated UMass 9-8. “Not only were we very prepared and motivated, but we executed as well as any team I have ever coached,” said UAlbany head coach Scott Marr. “If there was a game to bottle, it would be this one.” Lyle Thompson finished with 11 points, off four goals and seven assists, adding three ground balls. Miles Thompson had six goals (and one assist) to lead all goal-scorers, while Ty Thompson netted five goals. Off the bench, Bennett Drake scored a goal with three assists, while Derrick Eccles had a trio of assists. Earning the win was Blaze Riorden, who saved 18 shots in just under 50 minutes, allowing eight goals. For UMass (4-1), Matt Whippen had two goals and an assist off the bench, while Connor Mooney and Ryan Curley each had two points. Each of the Thompsons gave out firing early, with Miles, Lyle and Ty scoring unassisted in succession in the opening 3:13. Ty Thompson added another from Drake to make it 4-0 after four-and-a-half minutes. The Minutemen broke the run with a Whippen goal, but UAlbany scored three of the final four goals of the half, started by an LSM score by Eric Cantor finished with a Tim Cox goal, to end the first quarter up 7-2. Cox’s goal started a long run for UAlbany into the next period. Miles Thompson scored three of the next four goals, then John Maloney scored in a man-up situation. Lyle Thompson added two more unassisted goals, finishing the streak at eight-consecutive goals and giving UAlbany a 14-2 advantage with 6:04 left in the second quarter. UMass rolled off a pair of goals in the next 70 seconds, which was countered by UAlbany goals from Maloney and Will Stenberg. UAlbany went into halftime leading 16-4. After Robert Lynott’s goal to start the third quarter for UMass, UAlbany went on another run, with Ty Thompson, Maloney, Ty Thompson again and Lyle Thompson scoring in a row to build the advantage to 20-5 with 5:08 in the third. The team’s went back and forth the rest of the half as the Great Danes kept the advantage into quarter number four, leading 21-7. Following a Miles Thompson goal off the faceoff in the final period, UAlbany added three more goals in the fourth, including the first collegiate goal for each Drake and Tom Nuckel. The Great Danes finished the contest with the 25-10 victory. UAlbany returns home to take on Bryant next Saturday, March 15 at John Fallon Field at 1 p.m.