The Geneseo men’s lacrosse team suffered their first loss of the season at the hands of the 15th-ranked St. Lawrence Saints in spite of a great performance from sophomore midfielder Kevin Cook.
The Knights got off the bus at St. Lawrence hot off a three-game winning streak, including the recent throttling of SUNY Morrisville to the tune of a 17-2 final score. On top of their hot streak, Geneseo came into the game against St. Lawrence with something to prove, as the team hoped to finally show they are better than their records have dictated over the past few years.
Unfortunately for the Knights, St. Lawrence had a three-game winning streak of their own as they prepared to defend their home turf. To the Knights’ dismay, the momentum Geneseo brought with them proved to be just short of what was needed to match the Saints.
The game started off poorly for the Knights, as St. Lawrence grabbed a quick lead within the first minute. From then on however, the matchup became a neck-and-neck race to see who would tie it up first.
Cook was the first to turn the tide for Geneseo, as he raced past the St. Lawrence defense to notch the first goal for the Knights on a solo effort that proved to the Saints that this would be no easy victory.
In an interview with Cook he made it clear that the Knights have the ability to matchup with anybody, even if the St. Lawrence game didn’t fall right for them. “We can bring a lot of confidence through the rest of our season knowing that we can play with, and even beat any ranked opponent in the nation,” Cook said.
That confidence was on full display going into the second quarter as the efforts of sophomore midfielder Jake Steffen and junior attacker James Pratt gave the Knights a 4-2 lead. Again, Cook provided the spark for Geneseo, considering both goals came off of slick passes from the midfielder.
The momentum from these goals was short-lived, however, as St. Lawrence forced their way back into the game and tied the game up 5-5 heading into halftime, before taking the lead back within thirty seconds of the start of the third quarter.
Cook refused to let Geneseo give St. Lawrence ground and again gave the team an edge over the Saints with a long-distance shot that snuck past the goalie to tie the game 6-6 early on in the third quarter.
Cook and the Knights could do nothing to stem the tide of the Saints after that glimpse of hope, as St. Lawrence rattled off three-straight goals, making the score 9-6 in favor of the Saints going into the fourth quarter.
A late goal from junior attacker Tim Fallo kept the game interesting, but at that point there was little the Knights could do to stop St. Lawrence, as they ultimately fell 9-7 in what was a valiant effort against a team that had been expected to make quick work of the Geneseo squad.
Of note in the matchup was the astounding performance of both Cook—who made it his second-straight game with 4 goals—and senior goalie Tyler Wetzel—who saved a season-high 14 shots, doing more than his fair share to keep Geneseo in the game until the end.
Wetzel has earned the respect of the team due in no small part to his impressive ability as a goaltender for the Knights and because of the leadership he provides to the team that affectionately calls him “Big Red.”
Cook believes the key for the Knights going forward is to support Wetzel and to hope that they can prove that Geneseo has what it takes to be a great lacrosse team this year.