Ualbany captures league opener
Great Danes back on track in America East win vs. Umass Lowell
Only one University at Albany men’s lacrosse player received a game ball on a day Mitch Laffin had a career-high seven goals, Jakob Patterson dished out a career-best seven assists and Tehoka Nanticoke made a successful return in a different role. Hint: It wasn’t any of them. Great Danes head coach Scott Marr gave the honor to senior midfielder Jack Burgmaster after a 17-11 victory over Umass Lowell on Saturday, a game the Great Danes considered a must win.
“He just made play after play, it seemed like,” Marr said of Burgmaster.
In the second quarter, Burgmaster scored a goal and forced a pair of turnovers to turn the tide of a game that seemed to be getting away from the Great Danes in their America East opener.
From there, Ualbany received a resounding team effort to score its most goals of the season. The Great Danes improved to 2-4 overall and 1-0 in the conference after losing three straight games to Cornell, Massachusetts and Maryland.
“We wanted to make a statement that we can play,” Laffin
said. “Those losses didn’t define us. It wasn’t Ualbany lacrosse. But we prepared ourselves and we’re just trying to get that home-field advantage for the (America East) Tournament, that’s all it is.”
Trailing 5-3, Ualbany rattled off an 11-1 run to seize a 14-6 lead with 5:24 to play in the third quarter.
Marr said what pleased him even more than the outcome was how his team practiced all week.
“Our positive attitude, our team really coming together,” Marr said. “We talked about this week with our team. We switched some roles around and everybody accepted their role and really came out today and played as a team. You saw us moving the ball really well and we just did a nice job of overall team play and got our transition game going.”
Nanticoke, normally an attackman, came out of the box as an offensive midfielder.
He had two goals and three assists with the highlight coming on an overthe-shoulder pass to Patterson for a goal that made it 10-6.
Nanticoke didn’t attend the postgame news conference.
“He just draws a lot of attention on the defense,” Patterson said. “He’s dodging, all the defenders are looking at him and all we have to do is play off him, and once we get the ball, we move it to the next guy and score the goal.”
Nanticoke was back in action a week after Marr sat him for the entirety of a 14-9 loss to Maryland. Marr said at the time he was looking for better chemistry.
Nanticoke also missed the 17-16 loss at Cornell because of questions over his NCA A eligibility related to an Instagram post. But Marr said he believes the Great Danes have moved past those issues.
“Yes, I do,” Marr said. “I think we’re moving in the right direction. Again, I thought we had a great week of practice and everybody really bought into the system that we want to implement, including (Nanticoke), moving from attack to midfield right now.”
The moves underscored how crucial Ualbany felt this game was, especially with any NCA A Tournament at-large hopes probably dashed by the team’s slow start to the season.
“I definitely thought it was a must win,” Marr said. “I thought we had to get back on track and get going in the right direction.”
Goalkeeper Nate Siekierski had 14 saves for Ualbany, which played another solid game defensively. Umass Lowell committed 19 turnovers to Ualbany’s 12.
The Great Danes were also perfect on clears at 19 for 19.
“Every game’s a must win, but especially today after three losses in a row,” Patterson said. “But it just feels good to get a win as a team today.”