Strong Defense, Third Quarter Surge Earns #18/19 UAlbany a Road Win over #12/14 Penn State 17-10

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Paced by a 6-1 third quarter, eight Lyle Thompson points and 19 Blaze Riorden saves, the #18/19 UAlbany men’s lacrosse team took down #12/14 Penn State 17-10 on the road on Saturday. UAlbany (3-3) earned its second victory over a ranked team on the road this season with the win over Penn State (4-4), defeating UMass two weeks ago. “I thought Blaze [Riorden] and our defense set the tone for us today,” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr. “We played defense most of the first period, and from there our offense took advantage of its opportunities. I am very pleased with our total team effort.” Riorden’s 19 saves is a season-high for UAlbany for a 65.5% save percentage in the game. James Burdette helped on defense with four caused turnovers of the team’s 12. On the offensive end, Lyle Thompson led the Great Danes with eight points off three goals and five assists. Miles Thompson had four goals and two assists, adding a pair of caused turnovers, with Ty Thompson earning two goals and two assists. Off the bench, Eli Lasda scored two goals. For Penn State, Dan Craig had a hat trick of goals with two ground balls, while Pat Manley scored three goals off the bench. The defense was tested early as Penn State had possession the majority of the first seven minutes. Including two Riorden saves and a Burdette turnover, the Great Danes held Penn State scoreless in that time. Then at the 7:12 mark, third shot was a charm as Miles Thompson got set up for the score from Lyle Thompson for the first goal of the game. Penn State countered the other way and scored a minute-and-a-half later. After protecting against another series of Penn State shots, UAlbany cleared and saw Lyle Thompson score a pair of goals in a row to finish the period, sending the Great Danes ahead 3-1. Following an exchange of possessions, Lasda got set up for the fast break and scored from Eric Cantor. About a minute later, Ryan Feuerstein scored unassisted for a 5-1 UAlbany lead, causing Penn State to call timeout with 11:40 in the period. Following a Pat Manley goal for PSU, Lyle Thompson earned another score on a goal with under nine minutes left in the second to make it 6-2 UAlbany. Penn State followed with a 3-0 run, with five different point-scorers, to pull within one. With six seconds left in the half, Lasda was fed the ball from Lyle Thompson for a goal to put UAlbany up 7-5 going into the locker room. With possessions going back-and-forth to begin the third quarter, Will Stenberg and Miles Thompson each connected on goals. Penn State’s Craig scored at the 6:34 mark of the third to make it 9-6 UAlbany. The final five minutes of the quarter, the UAlbany offense was on fire. John Maloney, Miles Thompson, Ty Thompson and Feuerstein all scored in succession to finish up the period, giving UAlbany a 13-6 lead. Into next quarter, Matt Garziano and Matthew Bertrams added early goals to complete a 6-0 run, leading UAlbany to take a 15-6 advantage with 13:24 left. The home team made a late charge with two Craig goals and a Manley score to pull within six, but a Ty Thompson goal with 7:03 left ended the PSU run. Each side scored one more as UAlbany completed the game up 17-10 for the win. UAlbany plays one more non-conference game before the start of America East play, hosting Canisius on Tuesday, March 25 at 3 p.m. at John Fallon Field.