University of Albany Men's Lacrosse Earns First Shutout in DI Program History with 25-0 Victory - UAlbany Sports 2015

ALBANY, N.Y. – The #10/9 UAlbany men’s lacrosse team took down UMass Lowell 25-0 at home for the first-ever shutout in its Division I program history and its six-straight victory. UAlbany (7-1, 3-0 AE) dominated first-year program UMass Lowell (1-8, 0-3 AE) in every facet, outshooting its opponent 67-21, winning 23 of 29 faceoffs and scooping 65 ground balls to UML’s 24. “We got everyone a chance to play,” said UAlbany coach Scott Marr, whose UAlbany team has won 13-consecutive America East games. “UMass Lowell will be a good program, but we played at a very high level today.” Previously, UAlbany’s biggest margin of victory and top scoring defensive outcome came on April 30th, 2000 in a 24-1 win over Wagner. Connor Fields led UAlbany’s offense in the first half with a career-high nine points and seven goals, adding two assists. 17 different players scored points for UAlbany. Justin Reh scored a career-high eight points off a goal and seven assists, all coming in the second half. Lyle Thompson, Troy Reh and John Glancy each netted a pair of goals. “We were just trying to do our best and do what we do,” said Fields. “It is nice to have a game like this to get the confidence, and my teammates kept finding me for goals.” “The start of the game, our attitude was not to take [UMass Lowell] for granted,” said Thompson, whose two goals gives him 332 points in his collegiate career, just 22 points away from tying the all-time DI record of 354. On the defensive side, UAlbany’s three goalkeepers, Blaze Riorden, JD Colarusso and Trevor Cross combined for the shutout. Riorden got the victory with three saves in the first half. Colarusso had two saves in the majority of the second half while Cross, in his collegiate debut, had the sixth in the final 6:05. For UMass Lowell, Alex Desmarais got the loss with 10 saves and 13 goals allowed in the first 18 minutes. The defense exchanged shots with no one connecting in the opening five minutes. Thompson stole the ball on a UML clear attempt and scored himself to put UAlbany on the board. UAlbany kept winning faceoffs and stayed on offense, adding a Fields rebound goal, a Derrick Eccles rip and score, a John Maloney second chance shot from a Thompson saved shot, and a low shot from Fields for a goal for a 5-0 lead with 5:26 left in the 1st. After Fields added another goal minutes later, Cason Liles won faceoffs and helped UAlbany scored three goals in a span of 44 seconds from Thompson, Fields and Bennett Drake to lead 9-0 by the end of the first. Out of the gate in the second quarter, Derrick Eccles grabbed the faceoff, passed to Drake who passed to Fields for the goal. UAlbany added another couple of quick goals from Tim Cox, Kyle McClancy and Matt Garziano to lead 13-0 after 18 total minutes. UAlbany held on defense against a number of UMass Lowell shots for the next series of minutes, with Justin Reh setting up Fields for a goal, then he scored one of his own on a turnaround shot. Fields added one more as UAlbany took a 16-0 lead into the break. UAlbany went to its reserves for the next half. About three minutes in, Cody Kilcoyne picked up a ground ball from a scrum and scored his first UAlbany goal. Glancy added his first collegiate goal on a hidden ball trick in a man-up scenario. After peppering the goal with around five minutes left in the period, Mitch Rupp scored in a man-up situation, making it 19-0, the eventual score at the end of the third quarter. Troy Reh netted a goal about three minutes into the fourth quarter, with Josh Egan adding his first collegiate goal with 7:05 left in the period. The UAlbany defense held off a River Hawk attack that saw four shots in a span of 35 seconds. The reserves kept striking, with Glancy, Tom Nuckel, Troy Reh and Kevin McNally all adding late goals as the Great Danes held off UMass Lowell for the 25-0 shutout. UAlbany will head to the Carrier Dome for a battle against rival Syracuse, currently ranked #1 in the country in both polls, for a Thursday, April 2nd game at 7 p.m.