HAWKEYES REMAIN UNBEATEN WITH IMPRESSIVE WIN OVER ARMORY

(ROCHESTER, NY)… The Hawkeyes topped the Armory 17-7 in their second matchup at The Blue Cross Arena. The Upstate Collegiate Box Lacrosse League (UCBLL) champs earned a dominant win against their Rochester rival in another heated battle

“It’s like a rivalry,” Hawkeyes forward Zachary Terry said. “Everyone hates each other `during the 60 minutes that we’re playing, but right when the clock ends, everyone’s friends. We’re all fighting and hustling to everything, and then all of a sudden, we’re boys again, so it’s kind of a cool experience.”

The Hawkeyes spread the love with their 17 goals; they had eight multi-point scorers. They were led once again by UCBLL newcomer Thomas Gravino. He scored a sock trick (6 goals) and added two assists. Zachary Terry (3+1), Colt Green (1+3), and in transition, Ian Kane (0+4) all had four points. Quinn Nolan not only went 28-30 at the faceoff dot, but he also tallied two goals and an assist. Taylor Jungermann started his first game for the Hawkeyes. He tallied 24 saves for 75%. 

The Armory was led by Alec Constable, who scored two goals and two assists. Sam Bennett and TJ Carl each notched a goal and an assist. Tehonatake Nicholas played the first half for the Armory. He totaled 15 saves for 68% before being relieved by UCBLL veteran Will Dempsey. 

Dempsey was between the pipes for the Armory in their first year of play when they went to the national tournament. His skill was undeniable. In the third quarter, he made 15 saves, and he ended with 28 for 80% in 30 minutes. Dempsey transitioned seamlessly into the Armory crease despite it being his first minutes of the year. 

“It’s the trust in the coaches for sure, and then I think it’s the chemistry that we’ve built over the last couple of years with this team,” Dempsey said. “There are some shots that obviously I’ve gotta own, but then it’s nice to have teammates say – no, that was on me too – typically you always hear goalies say it’s the loneliest place on the field, but for the Armory, it’s not.”

Although Nolan won the faceoff to start the contest, the Armory was the first on the board. Colin Duncan connected just 1:15 into the contest

The Hawkeyes' first goal came by entirely avoiding the Armory's physical defense. Conner Fingar drove into the offensive end after a faceoff win and caught a pass from Kane down low for a transition goal. Despite the end scoreline, the first quarter was the closest 15 minutes the teams have played this season. For every goal one team had, the other was finding an answer. 

Unfortunately for the Armory, they were held to seven shots in the second quarter, and the Hawkeyes offense caught fire and scored seven of their own. Gravino notched another second-quarter hat trick as he ran the point and caught two of his goals from Nate Senez down low. After his third, Nolan got in on the action, taking a faceoff win right to the crease and burying the shot. He took the clamp off the next draw and had the same lane to the goal and took it. In two minutes, he matched his goal tally from all last season.  

“Oh my god, it’s heaven,” Terry said when asked about having Nolan as his faceoff specialist. “It kind of takes the monkey off your back, so to speak, not having to worry about, all the time, not coming up with the ball or anything like that.”

Terry capped off the second with a quick goal in transition as he was the first man out of the box. The Hawkeyes hit a bit of a wall in the third. It was Dempsey. He made eight saves before the first goal broke through six minutes into the half. Gravino and Terry combined for the first tally; Terry stretched the defense with a fake from the outside and allowed Gravino to find a lane down low; he got his shot right on the crease and snuck it into the near post to make the lead 10-5. 

The Hawkeyes rolled into the fourth quarter with a 12-6 lead, and despite Dempsey coming in between the pipes, the Armory offense couldn’t make up for the second quarter. On the flip side, the Hawkeyes were completely shutting down on defense. They were jumping out on hands quickly and multiple times forced shot clock violations that not only had no shots on goal but no shots at all. 

“Taylor (Jungermann) hasn’t had a lot of starts so we wanted to get out on shooters hands,” Hawkeyes head coach Dan Coates said. “But we also watched the film from last game and realized – okay, this is an area we gotta improve on because Monday night they were just getting too many clean looks.”

All the effort put in on the defensive end eventually poured over into the Hawkeye's offense as Terry’s ride finally paid off. He forced a turnover in the opening minute of the fourth quarter and took it to the crease all by himself for the goal. The rest came from the Hawkeyes driving inside and finding seams in the defense. They were also eating checks left and right but still drove to the hole and got the job done.

“It’s just having that mindset of – you can get to the middle if you want to get to the middle,” Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Thomas McConvey said. “We’re kind of giving them little tricks of like – use your body this way to get to the middle, use your body that way, it’s easier to get to the middle. They all want to do it; fine-tuning that skill is just a matter of fine-tuning.”

The 17 goals were the most the Hawkeyes have scored this season as they continue to open their offense. They have clearly found multiple looks in their offense, with five attackers scoring multiple points and seven transition players getting on the board. 

Gravino has erased the possibility that the team only runs through Terry and now leads the team and UCBLL in points with 20 in three games. The Hawkeyes will now turn to the Rapids for a late start at 8:00 p.m. Monday night at The Blue Cross Arena. 

For the Armory, despite a 10-goal loss, there was a lot to take away from the game. The first is what Dempsey can do for the team. The next is the quick fix of calming emotions and not allowing them to take over. The Armory had three cross-checks, two unsportsmanlike conducts, a slash, and a roughing call. Cutting down on those can allow more momentum creation for the Armory offense. 

The last takeaway was Constable's impressive play. Despite a tough defense, he scored or assisted on more than half of the Armory goals. His most impressive point was a shorthanded assist in the second quarter. He ran around and through the Hawkeyes' defense for 20 seconds before dishing it to a streaking Bennett for one of two shorthanded goals. They will host the Buffaloes on Monday, with a faceoff set for 6:00 p.m.