ONEONTA, N.Y. (March 16, 2019) – SUNY Delhi men's lacrosse's first-ever NAC contest was a successful one, as the Broncos picked up their fourth straight win with a 12-5 home-opening conference victory over Maine Maritime. NAC-leading scorers John Rohan and Malik Talbert each totaled four goals on the day, as the defense held the Mariners to just one goal in the first half, to improve to 4-2 on the season.
The contest opened with several scoreless minutes before Talbert struck for the Broncos with consecutive goals to go up, 2-0. Maine Maritime, however, retaliated by taking advantage of a man-up opportunity with a goal just under two minutes left in the quarter to cut Delh's lead to 2-1 after one. Goalie Travis Anderson and the Broncos' defense answered with a vengeance, shutting out their guests for the entire second quarter, marking the third straight game where they have shut out an opponent throughout an entire period. The offense complemented with four straight goals in the second to enter halftime ahead, 6-1. King White got one with 14:08 left in the half, followed by Rohan's first at 12:08, Brandon McGrath at 9:34, and Talbert closing the half with his third goal at 5:48.
Rohan quickly got Delhi on the board to begin the third, burying his second of the game just 27 seconds in to the third period. The Mariners broke their silence two minutes later to bring the score down to 7-2, only for Delhi freshman Logan Bauer getting his first career goal just over a minute after to put the Broncos back up by six. The Mariners and Broncos then exchanged a goal to account for the rest of the third-quarter scoring, with MMA's Zeke Tocci scoring with 6:21 left, and Rohan getting goal number three with 20 seconds left in the period as Delhi led, 9-3, to begin the fourth. Maine Maritime picked up a goal early on in the fourth to bring Delhi's lead back down to five, but White and Rohan combined for consecutive scores to put the game away, giving the Broncos their largest lead at 11-4. Mariner Zeke Tocci's third goal of the game accounted for the visitors' final goal of the day with 4:25 left, then Talbert earned goal number four on an extra-man chance with under two minutes left.
Rohan led the game with a five-point day, assisting on the final goal scored by Talbert. Rohan and Talbert now both lead the NAC with 24 points, while Rohan leads with 20 goals and Talbert second with 18. Anderson tallied ten saves on 15 shots faced, as the freshman further improved his NAC-best goals against average to 8.33. He also leads the NAC with 78 total saves, and second with a 60.9 save percentage. The three have also earned weekly accolades so far this season from the NAC.
Delhi outshot Maine Maritime, 38-25, while setting a new season best by forcing the Mariners into 40 turnovers. The Broncos also converted on 18-of-26 clear attempts to the Mariners' 11-of-25, and scored on 2-of-5 man-up opportunities to their guests' 1-of-2. Faceoff man Nick Dower won ten faceoffs.
Saturday's contest, which was held at SUNY Oneonta, marked the Broncos' first-ever NCAA conference game, as this is the first season for SUNY Delhi men's lacrosse in both NCAA Division III and the NAC. Head coach Sam Miller's squad aim to keep their newfound success going when they return to SUNY Oneonta on Tuesday for a matinee matchup with local-foe SUNY Cobleskill at 12:00 p.m.
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