The University at Albany’s lacrosse team needed the best player in the country to play like it Thursday night.
Senior Lyle Thompson, last year’s co-Tewaaraton Trophy winner with his graduated brother, Miles, and this year’s America East Conference Player of the Year, helped the Great Danes break away from a sluggish start and beat Hartford, 15-6, in the America East Conference tournament semifinals at Bob Ford Field.
UAlbany (14-2), the regular-season champion for the third straight year and ranked seventh in the nation by both major polls, takes on Stony Brook Saturday morning in the tournament championship game on Bob Ford Field. Game time is 10 a.m.
Thompson, who became the first player ever to register three 100-point seasons, is also the NCAA’s all-time leading scorer with 380 points. In the last several games, he’s been pulled early as the Great Danes piled up huge leads against their conference opponents. On Thursday, UAlbany needed him at the top of his game the whole night.
Thompson notched five goals and added four assists, while junior goalie Blaze Riorden was sensational with nine saves, many on point-blank shots.
The Great Danes, who average better than 17 goals per game, couldn’t break away from the Hawks until the second half. Hartford (3-3, 7-8) trailed just 3-2 after a period and 7-4 at halftime.
“There were seven or eight minutes left in the second quarter, and I was looking at our guys’ faces on the sidelines,” said Hartford head coach Peter Lawerence. “I felt like we were right there. But they [the Danes] have so many guys. They have a fleet of midfielders. We just started to run out of gas. Lyle Thompson is a very talented player, and UAlbany has a phenomenal group of guys who get a lot of accolades, and deservedly so. ”
UAlbany head coach Scott Marr said he wasn’t surprised that the Danes had a little more trouble with Hartford than most people expected. UAlbany beat Hartford, 24-6, earlier in the season.
“I think this is the hardest game to play when you are the No. 1 seed,” said Marr. “I thought we were a bit tight. Hartford was playing very well against us. I thought our goalie was the best defensive player on the field tonight, and he helped us fight through it.”
Thompson, who now has 43 goals and 58 assists, knew his team would need him in tournament play.
“We knew offensively that we had to play more structured and settle down,” he said. “They [the Hawks] weren’t sliding to me. Once I scored a couple of goals, they started coming to me. Any time you have a good game like tonight, our team looks to me to initiate the offense.”
Schenectady High School graduate Tim Cox, a senior midfielder, agreed with Marr that the tournament opener can be tough for the top seed.
“Coach called a timeout and told us to smile and breath and have fun,” said Cox.
Riorden said the Danes have broken the season down into several segments.
“We accomplished our first mission by winning the regular-season title, and before the game, I told our guys we had to accomplish our second mission tonight,” he said. “Now, on Saturday, we have a third mission to accomplish.”
Riorden, six-feet and 210 pounds, is not the swiftest player around, but at one point he carried the ball past midfield and drew a slashing penalty.
“It felt great to feel the pain and get a flag,” he said with a smile.
Freshman Connor Fields added three goals for UAlbany.
Hartford 2 2 1 1 — 6
UAlbany 3 4 5 3 — 15
Hartford scoring: Justin Higgins 3-0, Kevin O’Shea 2-1, Griffin Feiner 1-0, Doug Biondi 0-1, Alec Brown 0-1, Adam Yee 0-1. UAlbany scoring: Lyle Thompson 5-4, Connor Fields 3-1, Ky Tarbell 1-1, Tim Cox 1-1, Adam Osika 1-1, Seth Oakes 1-0, Bennett Drake 1-0, Kyl McClancy 1-0, Jake Cullen 1-0, Matt Bertrams 0-1, Matt Garziano 0-1.
Goalies: Hartford, Ryan Vanderford, 17 saves. UAlbany, Blaze Riorden, 9 saves.
Categories: College Sports
