ARMORY, HAWKEYES VICTORIOUS ON OPENING NIGHT

(Rochester, NY)… The Armory and Hawkeyes opened the 2024 Upstate Collegiate Box Lacrosse League (UCBLL) season with wins on Thursday night. The Armory notched the most impressive victory, knocking off the Rapids 21-7, while the two-time defending champion Hawkeyes defeated the Buffaloes 10-5 at The Blue Cross Arena.

“It was good to watch. It was the first time we have had everyone together,” said Armory coach Jordan Jarvis. Having some familiar faces back from last year was nice.”

The Armory leaned on its veterans, with RIT star Clifford Gaston leading the way with seven goals and two assists. Returners Alec Constable (5+1), Mark Belles (2+1), Sam Bennett (2+0) and Brady Ruffalo (1+1) also helped power the offense.

“I have been playing a lot of field (lacrosse) over the last couple of months, but it’s great to be back in the box where I’ve got all my roots,” said Gaston. “It’s the first game, and to be clicking that well was awesome. It was great to get everyone in on the action.”

The Armory also received goals from Colin Duncan (1+3), Trent Jackson (1+2), TJ Carl (1+2) and Aidan Cawley (1+1). Tehonatake Nicholas backstopped the victory with a 24-save effort.

The Armory led 4-2 after one quarter but dominated the middle frames by outscoring the Rapids 11-2 over the next two quarters. Gaston netted three of his team-best seven tallies in the third quarter, sparking a 6-0 run to give the Armory a 14-3 advantage.

“Today was a great building block. We obviously played great, but we have to look at our weak spots and nip those in the bud,” said Gaston. “We have to progress as the season goes on. Jordan Jarvis knows a ton about lacrosse; we have to listen and do what he says, and we will do great every game.”

In the first game of the lacrosse doubleheader, the Hawkeyes raced out to a 6-0 second-quarter lead and held off a late run by the Buffaloes to capture a 10-5 win. Last year’s Hawkeyes’ MVP, Zachary Terry, opened the game with back-to-back markers to finish the night with three goals and one assist.

Terry was one of three players to post three-goal efforts. Nate Senez led the way with a five-point (3+2) performance, while the University of Maryland’s Thomas Gravino notched three goals in his UCBLL debut. Titus Chapman also picked up three assists in his inaugural game. Quinn Nolan dominated the draws, winning 17 of 18 faceoffs, while John Jacobs made 31 saves to earn the win in goal.

The game started as a goaltending duel between Jacobs and the Buffaloes’ Jarrod Brant. The goalies combined for 21 saves on 20 shots as the Hawkeyes led 1-0 after the opening quarter on Terry’s goal at 4:13. Brant made 11 of those stops and finished the contest with 58 saves, which was one of the top goaltending performances in the history of the UCBLL.

Despite Brant’s brilliance, the Hawkeyes pulled ahead in the second as Terry notched his second of the game and Gravino tallied back-to-back goals. Senez and Cade Ratliff-Kailbourne would also connect to give the Rochester team a 6-0 lead.

The Buffaloes got back into the contest by scoring five of the game’s next six goals to cut the deficit to 7-5 early in the fourth. Jason Chiodo scored the Buffaloes’ first two goals to make it 6-2. After a Hawkeyes’ tally 57 seconds into the third, the Buffalo team recorded the next three goals to get within two.

The Hawkeyes, however, would put the game away by collecting the game’s final three goals. Senez scored on a delayed penalty at 2:41 of the fourth and then ripped a goal top shelf at 4:24 to make it 9-5. Gravino then capped off the night with his third tally of the contest with 28 seconds to play.

“I thought we showed signs of doing some really good things, and there are areas where we need to clean up,” said Hawkeyes coach Dan Coates. “That’s what we expected coming into Game 1. We knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. We wanted to make progress as a team. We’ll watch the tape and see how we can get better, but overall, it was a good start to the season.”

Next week, the Hawkeyes and Armory will play back-to-back games on Monday and Thursday at The Blue Cross Arena. On Thursday, the Buffaloes take on the Rapids at The Classic Rink in East Aurora.