Spartans Roar Past No. 6 NYIT 15-6 in Home Opener

Tampa, Fla - The No. 13 ranked men's lacrosse team outscored No. 6 New York Tech 13-4 over the final three periods en route to a 15-6 win Friday night at the Naimoli Family Athletic and Intramural Complex. With the win the Spartans improves to 2-0, while the Bears fall to 0-1 on the season.

The Bears struck first scoring the first two goals of the contest to jump out to an early 2-0 lead. Tampa responded as Jake Rooney netted an unassisted goal to cut the lead to 2-1 with 9:32 remaining in the opening period. Minutes later, Matt Bilak netted the equalizer to even the score 2-2 after the first quarter.

Tampa's offensive attack found its rhythm outscoring (6-1) outshooting (14-5) the Bears in the second quarter. Just over a minute into the quarter Rooney found Conor Whipple for a goal. Nick Ferreiro won the ensuing faceoff, picked up the ground ball, and scored the goal to extend the lead to 4-2. After the two teams traded goals, Mike Morris connected with Brian Patton for a goal with 4:42. Morris and Jasper Gantick each tallied a goal to give the Spartans an 8-3 lead at the half.

Ferreiro won the faceoff to start the second half and put a well-placed shot into the back of the cage to extend Tampa's lead to 9-3. A minute later, Morris found Whipple for his first of three second half goals. NYIT then scored back-to-back man-up goals to cut the lead to 10-5 with 10:35 left in the third quarter. The Spartans scored five of the final six goals of the contest for the 15-6 final.

Whipple led the Spartans with four goals, while Rooney netted a hat trick. Morris and Ferrerio each tallied three points in the win.

Andrew Failla improves to 2-0 this season and made seven saves in the win. The defensive trio of Nate Tembi, Larry Gress, and Marty Heyn combined for six ground balls and three caused turnovers, while limiting the Bears to 15 shots on goal.

This win marks only the second time that the Spartans have defeated a ranked opponent and the first since March 17, 2012 when they defeat No. 9 Mars Hill 7-6.

The Spartans will return to action next Sunday, February 23, when they travel to Salisbury, N.C. to take on Catawba College at 1 p.m. Live stats and a video webcast will be available through TampaSpartans.tv.

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