SPRINGFIELD, MA – Sophomore Louis Cogliandro scored twice in a six-goal run for the Nazareth University Men's Lacrosse team as the Golden Flyers recovered from an early deficit and downed Springfield College 10-9 Saturday in the season opener on the road.
The win for Nazareth (1-0) was the first at Springfield since 2013 when the Golden Flyers went to Springfield and came away with a 15-13 victory.
The Pride opened the game scoring four of the first five goals. Sophomore Kyle Rosenberger scored a man-up goal with 48 seconds left in the opening quarter to tie the score at 1-1 before Springfield added two goals in the final seconds of the period to take a 3-1 lead into the first quarter break.
An early man-up goal for Springfield in the second quarter extended the lead to 4-1.
Sophomore Matthew Farrington and Rosenberger scored back-to-back goals to trim the lead to a goal but Springfield answered with two more goals to take a 6-3 edge.
Senior Quinn Conroy started the comeback with a goal at the 5:54 mark of the second quarter.
Cogliandro scored the next two goals with the first at the end of the second quarter and the second to start the scoring in the second half and tie the score at 6-6.
Senior Quinn McKercher scored to give Nazareth its first lead at 7-6. Freshman Luke Bobby and Rosenberger scored goals in a span of 11 seconds to cap the run and give Nazareth a 9-6 lead.
Springfield scored late in the third and then closed the gap to a single goal early in the fourth quarter.
The teams battled back and forth for most of the fourth quarter until Cogliandro scored a man-up goal for his third of the game and a 10-8 Nazareth lead with 3:03 left to play.
Springfield scored with just over a minute to play but could not score the equalizer as senior Reece Wieder caused a turnover in the defensive zone and Nazareth completed the clear and ran out the clock for the win.
Rosenberger and Cogliandro scored three goals each while Conroy and McKercher each finished with three points on a goal and two assists. Wieder finished with three caused turnovers. Sophomore McLean Ralston finished with 15 saves for the win in goal.
Nazareth returns to action next Saturday with the home opener at 12 p.m. against Endicott on Nazareth Lacrosse Players Association (NLPA) Field.
