Big Early-Season Test for Men’s Lax

Sophomore Scott Miller and the Keuka College men's lacrosse team will get a stiff early-season test Saturday vs. nationally-ranked RIT.

The Keuka College’s men’s lacrosse team continues its season-opening three-game road trip with a non-conference clash against nationally-ranked RIT at 1 p.m. Saturday afternoon in Henrietta, N.Y.

Keuka (1-0), fresh off a 12-4 dismantling of Shenandoah (Va.) University on March 3, gets a great early-season test when it faces the sixth-ranked Tigers (2-0) on RIT’s turf field.

The Tigers, who are annually among the region’s best teams, have earned a spot in the NCAA Division III tournament in each of the last three years. Last year, RIT advanced into the Final Four before falling to Tufts (Mass.) University, 16-12 in the national semifinals.

In the win over Shenandoah, the Storm got two goals and four assists from senior Gino Marcello (Rochester, NY/Churchville-Chili), three goals and two assists from junior Chris Redington (Tully, NY/Tully) while junior Mike Crumlish (Rochester, NY/Hilton) and freshman James Voigt (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan) each added two goals and an assist as Keuka won for the 10th time in 11 games dating back to last season.

For RIT, senior Tyler Russell scored six goals during RIT’s 16-10 home win over The College at Brockport, and Russell leads the Tigers with eight goals and nine points. A.J. Tingle (four goals, two assists), Brendan MacDonald (3G, 3A) and Allister Warren (2G, 3A) pace an RIT attack that has outscored the opposition 27-18 in two wins.

“This will definitely be a big test for us, but we’ve been practicing hard all week and I think we’re ready to play,” Marcello said of Keuka, which fell at home to RIT 18-6 in the second game of the 2011 season.

“We’re going to learn a lot about ourselves playing a top team like RIT. We played really well against Shenandoah and have a lot of confidence heading into the game.”

Keuka, which captured the North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC) postseason title in 2011 for the second time in three seasons, jumped all over Shenandoah early and led 3-0 after the first quarter, and 8-1 at halftime.

Sophomore Scott Miller (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan) scooped up a team-high six groundballs while classmate Brandon DeCaire (LaFayette, NY/LaFayette) had four groundballs, and junior Scott Welch (Palmyra, NY/Palmyra-Macedon) and senior Ben Ternosky (LaFayette, NY/LaFayette) each had three groundballs for Keuka against Shenandoah.

Freshman Anthony Luppino (Penn Yan, NY/Penn Yan), sophomore Nick Judge (Clifton Springs, NY/Midlakes) and freshman Derek Pfeiffer (Lee Center, NY/Rome Free Academy) each added goals for the Storm, which led 11-1 entering the fourth quarter versus Shenandoah.

After playing the Tigers, Keuka travels to Elmira College for a 3:30 p.m. non-conference clash on Wednesday. The Storm’s home opener comes one week later, when Keuka hosts Alfred University at 7 p.m.