The 2022 season opener for the Tompkins Cortland men's lacrosse team featured a match-up of teams ranked in the top ten in the NJCAA Preseason National Poll. Playing host to #8-ranked Monroe Community College, the #10-ranked Panthers fell behind early and could never get all the way back, eventually falling by a score of 20-10.
It was the second game of the year for the visiting Tribunes, and they came out crisper. Just three minutes into the game Monroe went on scoring spurt, putting four in the net in a span of 2:21. The score was 5-0 when Billy Kozloski (Johnson City/Johnson City H.S.) kept the Panthers from getting blanked in the opening quarter, scoring the team's first goal of the year with six seconds left in the first quarter.
The goal provided a spark for the Panthers. Brandon Figueroa (Chelsea, Mass./Chelsea) netted a goal in the first minute of the second quarter, and a second score from Kozloski brought the Panthers within two at 5-3, but the momentum ended when Monroe scored the next six goals to lead 11-3. Brandon Pignato (Greece/Greece Athena H.S.) ended the half with his first goal in the closing moments of the quarter, sending the teams to the half with Monroe up 11-4.
The two teams traded goals three times to open the third quarter, but Monroe scored the final two to extend the margin to 16-7 heading to the fourth. The first two scores of the fourth gave the Tribunes their largest lead of the day at 18-7 before the Panthers scored three of the final five goals to make the final 20-10.
Kozloski led the Panthers offense with four goals and an assist. Alan Porter-Jackson (Buchanan/Hendrick Hudson H.S.) was next with three goals and an assist. Pignato and Thomas Boyle (Poughkeepsie/Arlington H.S.) each had a goal and an assist, Figueroa had one goal, and Lesley Hines (New Haven, Conn./Wingate Campus) tallied an assist.
Declan Fullerton (Westchester/Walter Panas H.S.) had 19 saves in goal for the Panthers.
Looking ahead
The Panthers are off until playing at Onondaga Community College on Saturday, March 26.