The Rensselaer men’s lacrosse team earned two victories while playing in Florida and Long Island before falling to seventh-ranked Springfield on Saturday.
The Red Hawks embarked on their annual trip to Florida with high expectations. The team earned the school’s first ever NCAA bid last season and returns 26 players, including All-Americans Ben and Tom Terzulli. With these two leading the attack, the Red Hawks should be more than able to make up for the graduation of Joe Battaglia, who scored 43 goals last season. The team should have plenty of offensive pyrotechnics from the Terzulli twins, Attacker Andrei Lombardi, and midfielders David Perlman and Nick Childs. Adding to the excitement is the fact that the Red Hawks have been ranked in the top 10 by several national publications.
With all this build up and months of both off- and preseason training, the men’s lacrosse team took on Division II Bryant College in Orlando.
Ben Terzulli led an offensive barrage as he scored seven times in the first half in leading the Red Hawks to a 15-6 win. Adding to the offensive onslaught was Tom Terzulli, who had five assists, and Perlman, who netted 3 goals. Midfielder Curt Demers added two assists.
Next up for Rensselaer would be a game with the Red Dragons of Oneonta. This time Tom Terzulli would lead the way as he totaled 5 goals and five assists in an 18-8 win. Ben Terzulli added 2 goals and five assists, while Childs had 2 goals and an assist. Perlman had another strong game, netting 3 goals once again. Lombardi added a well-rounded performance with 3 goals and two assists. Attacker Jeff Hobbs contributed two goals.
With these two wins in hand, the Red Hawks headed into Saturday’s showdown with seventh-ranked Springfield.
Rensselaer dominated the Pride in the early going as they built a 7-0 lead. This dominance continued well into the second period as the Red Hawks lead was 8-1 with just a little over two minutes to go before half time. But Springfield managed to rally to close the gap to 8-4 at the intermission.
In the third and fourth quarters, the scoreboard was run by the Pride, who netted 9 goals to the Red Hawks’ 1. Further more, seven of these scores came in the fourth period, which the Red Hawks entered with a 8-6 lead.
On the day, Tom Terzulli netted four points with 2 goals and two assists. Ben Terzulli also had four points with 1 goal and three assists.
While this game was a setback for the Red Hawks and dropped them to 11th in the national ranking, they must stay focused as they begin the defense of their UCAA title today at 4 pm at Harkness Field against Vassar. The UCAA is key this year, as the champion earns an automatic NCAA bid. In addition to the league loop, the Red Hawks also have a match with fifth ranked Nazareth on Saturday.
