Albany Area Men’s College Lacrosse Wraparound

Starting this week, we will provide weekly updates on the men’s lacrosse programs at UAlbany, Siena College and Union College. Each of these programs have been under the spotlight for various reasons to begin the season: UAlbany’s difficult schedule with early-season road games against three top-20 teams, Siena’s continued success in the MAAC and Union’s surge through the national Division III rankings. So without further ado, here are your weekly recaps from those three area programs.

Siena College

• Last Saturday afternoon, Siena scored the last eight goals in a 14-2 victory over Canisius and held the Golden Griffins scoreless for the final 36 minutes at Siena Turf Field. It was Siena’s seventh consecutive win, moving the Saints to the brink of clinching a MAAC Tournament berth.
• The Saints dominated all facets of the game for the full 60 minutes and out-shot Canisius 47-25 in winning for the 19th time in the past 21 home games. The win was the Saints’ fourth straight over the Griffs.
• Danny Martinsen and Bryan Neufeld once again led the offensive onslaught. Martinsen led all scorers with seven points including four goals, while Neufeld scored twice and added four helpers for six total points. Martinsen extended his scoring streak to 28 consecutive games and goal scoring streak to 18 in a row, while Neufeld pushed his point total to an amazing 48 points during the Saints’ current winning streak.
• Siena held the nation’s fourth leading goal scorer Simon Giourmetakis scoreless. The two goals allowed were the fewest by the Saints in three years as the Green and Gold continued their conference dominance by winning for the 28th time in their past 29 MAAC Regular Season games.
• Siena swept the MAAC’s Weekly Honors on Monday, when Danny Martinsen was named MAAC Offensive Player of the Week, Tom Morr earned MAAC Defensive Player of the Week and Conor Prunty was the MAAC Rookie of the Week.
• Martinsen is the fourth straight Saint to earn MAAC Offensive Player of the Week honors, joining Bryan Neufeld (Mar. 26, Apr. 2) and Chris Roth (Apr. 9). Martinsen, who was also named offensive player of the week on Feb. 21, finished with a game-high seven points on four goals and three assists against the Griffs. He ran his scoring streak to 28 straight games, goal scoring streak to 18 in a row, and currently ranks eighth in the nation in scoring and seventh in assists.
• Morr meanwhile earned his fourth MAAC Defensive Player of the Week honor this season. He made seven saves against Canisius, stopping 77.8% of the shots he faced and held the Griffs without an even strength goal. Having another fantastic season, Morr currently ranks fifth nationally averaging 11.82 saves per game.
• Prunty earns his first weekly honor following a career-high four point game. The freshman midfielder scored two goals and added two assists including the game-winning helper.
• The Saints can clinch the MAAC Regular Season Title and No. 1 overall seed in the MAAC Tournament outright with a win Saturday. The Saints host Marist at 1 p.m. on Senior Day and Alumni Appreciation Day at Siena Turf Field in a game that will be televised throughout the state on Time Warner Cable Sports.

UAlbany

• Joe Resetarits scored four goals and added two assists to lead UAlbany to a 15-7 win over Vermont in America East Conference men’s lacrosse action on Saturday evening at John Fallon Field. The Great Danes improve to 3-8 on the season and clinched a playoff berth with their third straight league win, moving to 3-0 in America East play.
• UAlbany scored four straight goals to start the game. Resetarits netted his first of the day, followed by an unassisted shot by Lyle Thompson, to give the Great Danes a 2-0 lead after the first quarter. Resetarits scored first in the second quarter as well, taking an assist from Miles Thompson at 12:47. Miles then completed the 4-0 run with a helper from Will Stenberg at 9:52.
• Vermont ended the rally directly off the ensuing faceoff, as Geoff Worley scored the first of his five goals of the game. UAlbany stayed up, as Eric Cantor scored his first goal of the season at 9:18, but the Catamounts followed with five straight to take a 6-5 lead. UAlbany would not fold, however, and Miles Thompson found the back of the net for the second time with an unassisted shot with just 12 seconds left to play to send the teams to halftime tied, 6-6.
• The Great Danes came out firing after the break, scoring four straight goals at the start of the third quarter to take a 10-6 advantage. Vermont was finally able to find the back of the net once again before the quarter ended, as Worley finished off his scoring with an assist from Garrett Virtue.
• It was all UAlbany in the fourth quarter, and the Great Danes finished the game as they started, shutting the Catamounts out of the scoring column. Miles Thompson completed his hat trick with a goal at 13:50, before Ty Thompson netted back-to-back goals three minutes apart. Resetarits wrapped up his scoring for the day with an unassisted shot at 9:39, while Ryan Feuerstein scored just his second goal of the season with an unassisted tally at 3:52 to set the final margin.
• On Monday afternoon, senior attackman Joe Resetarits was named the America East Conference Men’s Lacrosse Player of the Week. It is Resetarits’ first weekly honor of his career.
• A two-time first-team all-conference selection, Resetarits is eighth among active players with 108 career goals, and extended his point-scoring streak to 44 straight games, the longest streak in the nation. He is also fifth nationally with 23 hat tricks in his career.
• The Great Danes will return to action next Saturday, as they visit America East rival UMBC for a 1 p.m. game.

Union College

• Early Saturday afternoon, sophomore attack Nate Greenberg scored twice and senior goalie Sean Aaron made 20 saves to help lead Union to a 6-3 win over RPI at Frank Bailey Field. Sophomore attack Rob Santangelo added a goal and an assist, and Ted McKenna, Jonathan Andrews, and Nick Alfonzetti also scored for Union, which notched its second win over a ranked opponent this season.
• But on Wednesday night, the Dutchmen fell to #8 RIT 10-6 in a game televised on Time Warner Cable Sports, despite sophomore attack Nate Greenberg’s two goals and 1 assist. Senior goalie Sean Aaron made 12 saves as both teams recorded 22 shots on goal in the contest. RIT goalie Anthony DeLeo made 16 saves in net for the Tigers.
• With the game tied 5-5 late in the third quarter, RIT scored five unanswered goals to take control of the contest. With 2:33 to play in the third quarter, A.J. Tingle started the run, picking up a ground ball and scoring from just outside the circle to give RIT a 6-5 lead.
• RIT's Jordan Collins-Hartwig, who scored six of the Tigers' nine second half goals, added three goals in the fourth quarter, capping off the run with a man-up goal with 4:59 to play to put the Tigers up 10-5. Greenberg scored from a wide angle on a man-up opportunity with 3:48 to play to end the run, but Union would get no closer.
• Union will take on Vassar on Saturday night at 7:00 p.m. as the Dutchmen will honor 10 seniors on Senior Night at Frank Bailey Field.

Special thanks to Jeffrey Weinstein (Union), Brianna LaBrecque (UAlbany) and Michael Demos (Siena) for their assistance on this story.