Game 1 Box Score
BEL AIR, Md.—The Harford men's lacrosse team lost its third straight, as it fell to Alfred State, 13-6, on Thursday afternoon at Harford Stadium. The Fighting Owls (3-4) managed just three goals to the Pioneers' (1-0) eight in the first half, but doubled their score in the third as sophomore Chad Palmer (Fallston, Md./Fallston) tallied a natural hat trick.
The goals would unfortunately be the only ones that Harford would score for the remainder of the game as Alfred State rolled to the commanding victory.
Palmer led the Owls with four goals on the day, while sophomores Chad Fike (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) and Steve Taylor (Bel Air, Md./C. Milton Wright) added their first points of the season with one assist each.
Ryan Grogan led the Pioneers with seven points on the day (4g, 3a) while William Ardolino tacked on another five points (4g, 1a).
Harford jumped to an early, 2-0, lead as freshman Miles Dance (Edgewood, Md./Joppatowne) wrapped around the right side of the goal and dumped in an unassisted tally over the keeper's shoulder just 1:19 into the first quarter and freshman Branden Kenny (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) fed freshman Andrew Gilpin (Bel Air, Md./Bel Air) about five minutes later to put the Owls up, 2-0.
Alfred would, however, tally four goals before the end of the period, two from Ardolino, one by Grogan and a man-up from Ben Rossignolo.
Grogan would open up scoring in the second as he tacked on his second goal of the day just 16 seconds into the period and eight minutes later Rossignolo would also add his second goal before Grogan added yet another with 5:49 left to give the Pioneers a 7-2 lead.
Palmer would record his first goal of the day, on an extra-man opportunity, as he took a feed from Taylor with 3:29 left, but Josh Mateo would add an unassisted tally before the end of the period to give Alfred an 8-3 advantage at the half.
Harford's woes continued in the second half as Alfred tacked on two goals within 40 seconds of each other in the third minute, but Palmer would begin his scoring frenzy at the 9:50 mark with an unassisted goal, before adding two more in the next 4:00 first off a pass from freshman Joe Rosenkilde (Monkton, Md./ North Harford).
After the ensuing faceoff, which sophomore Russell Harrell (Joppatowne, Md./Joppatowne) won, the Owls offense managed one shot before the Pioneers began a clear attempt and just before Josh Reese entered the attack area, Fike intercepted his pass and sent a rocket down field to Palmer, who beat the keeper one-on-one to complete his natural hat trick.
Ardolino would score for Alfred with two seconds left in the period as he took a feed from Grogan and fired a behind-the-back shot that found its mark to give the Pioneers an 11-6 lead.
Alfred would hold Harford scoreless in the fourth while adding two goals of its own on the way to the 13-6 win.
Freshman Bryan Burrill (3-4) (Forest Hill, Md./C. Milton Wright) started in the net for Harford and made four saves in 30:00, while freshman Lee Single (Edgewood, Md./Edgewood) took over for the second half and stopped nine shots. Donald Merritt played the entire 60:00 for Alfred State and totaled 17 saves on the day.
The Fighting Owls return to action on Saturday when they host Hudson Valley for a 1:00 p.m. game.
