Lyle Thompson Leads the Way as UAlbany Defeats #9/13 UMass, 15-9

ALBANY, N.Y. -- Lyle Thompson scored five goals and handed out three assists to lead UAlbany to a 15-9 victory over #9/13 UMass on Tuesday afternoon in non-conference men's lacrosse action at John Fallon Field. The Great Danes improve to 2-2 on the season, while the Minutemen fall to 3-2 with their second straight loss.

The two teams played a mostly scoreless first quarter, with neither team scoring until just under the four-minute mark, when UAlbany freshman John Maloney scored his first collegiate goal off an assist from Ty Thompson. UMass tied the game less than a minute later after winning the ensuing faceoff, getting an unassisted shot from Kyle Smith. Lyle Thompson gave UAlbany the quarter-ending lead, scoring an unassisted goal with just five seconds to play.

The Minutemen scored first to start the second to tie the game for the second time on a goal from Dan Muller, but UAlbany responded with three straight goals. A pair of scores from Lyle Thompson sandwiched another goal from Maloney to put the Great Danes up, 5-2, with eight minutes to play in the first half. However, UMass scored the next three goals - two to end the second quarter, and one to start the third, to tie the game for the third time.

After Grant Whiteway's goal to start the third period, UAlbany got back-to-back goals from Maloney and Lyle Thompson to regain the advantage. The Minutement got a goal from Matt Whippen at 9:39 to pull back within one, 7-6, but three straight goals by the Great Danes would seal the game up. Derrick Eccles netted his second goal of the season at 6:53, before Ty Thompson assisted Will Fuller on a man-up opportunity at 5:35. Freshman Kevin McNally ended the streak with a goal at 3:24, getting an assist from Matt Garziano. UMass once again ended the quarter with a score, taking advantage of their only extra-man opportunity of the game with a score from Whiteway at 1:25.

The Minutemen scored first to start the final period, but the two Thompson's on the field connected for a goal at 8:40, with Lyle passing off to Ty. UMass would attempt to stage a late comeback, pulling within two goals, 11-9, on a score from Kyle Smith, but Lyle assisted Jimmy Haugen's first collegiate goal at 2:56 to start a four-goal streak for the Great Danes. The Minutemen pulled goalkeeper Zachary Oliveri for 45 seconds, and UAlbany scored two open-net goals with scores from Lyle Thompson and Ryan Feuerstein. Backup netminder Reed Goodhue came into the game for the final 1:17 for UMass, but long pole defender Anthony Ostrander rocketed a shot past him with just 1:09 to play to set the final score.

"We needed to have a good game to get back on track," said UAlbany head coach Scott Marr, whose team is receiving votes in both national polls this week. "We needed to regain our mental focus. Everyone was paying attention to the small details, and we stepped up. We had different guys put the ball in the goal and Blaze [Riorden] and the defense played awesome."

UAlbany outshot UMass, 39-35, and held a 38-29 advantage in ground balls. Kevin Glueckert took all 28 faceoffs for the Great Danes, winning 15. UAlbany goalkeeper Blaze Riorden stopped 12 shots for the Great Danes, while Oliveri made 10 stops for UMass.

The Great Danes will return to action on Saturday, visiting Canisius for a 1 p.m. face off.