Geneseo Men's Lacrosse lose 3 Straight One-Goal Games

The Geneseo men’s lacrosse team dropped their third straight one goal game, falling to St. John Fisher, 7-6, on March 28. It is the Blue Knights fourth one goal loss of the season as they fall to 0-5 to start the year.

“Winning breeds winning and there’s no question that when you lose your first (five) and (four) are by one goal, you have to worry about your confidence,” head coach Jim Lyons said.

Geneseo got off to a slow start against the Cardinals, trailing 4-0 late in the second quarter. Senior Brendan Kurpis scored a minute before halftime to get Geneseo on the board.

St. John Fisher extended their lead back to four, midway through the third quarter. Geneseo responded from there. Senior Jeff Watson scored a few minutes later to get the Blue Knights back in the game off a pass from first year Steven Cregan.

Junior Frank DiSanti drew a penalty on the subsequent faceoff to give Geneseo the man-up. Sophomore John Wettack scored his sixth of the year as Cregan earned his second assist of the game. He leads the team with 13 assists and 15 points on the season.

“We run a lot of set pieces to get Steven feeding opportunities,” Lyons said. “He’s just taking advantage of the opportunities that have come to him.”

Kurpis scored his second goal of the game in the final seconds of the third to pull Geneseo within one.

“We threw the ball away every chance we could in the first half. Those missed passes were deadly. We have to tighten that up,” Lyons added. “When we didn’t do that and we played smart, we got good shots and we scored.”

Geneseo was unable to get the tying goal in the fourth. St. John Fisher scored early in the quarter to regain their two goal lead before Kurpis notched his third goal of the game to pull Geneseo back within one.

The Cardinals took a 7-5 lead with 20 seconds remaining when junior goalie Michael Gruebel was out of the net defending as Geneseo was relentlessly trying to gain possession. Kurpis then scored his fourth goal with six seconds remaining but Geneseo was unable to tie the game. He leads the team with eight on the year.

“He (Kurpis) extended his shooting range a little bit,” Lyons said. “He’s a great scorer and he realized it today and finally everybody else got him the ball in good position.”

Gruebel made 11 saves, taking the loss in goal.

Geneseo also suffered two one-goal losses over spring break. They fell to Saint Lawrence, 9-8, on March 13 before losing to Clarkson, 8-7, on March 17. Cregan picked up five assists in those games. Wettack also picked up five points, on three goals and two assists.

The Blue Knights finish their non-conference schedule Saturday, March 31, when they host #4 RIT.