Senior Nick Vergari netted a hat trick and five other players scored once each to stake Brockport to an 8-3 lead after three quarters and they were able to hang on for an 8-7 win over Newark in a boys’ lacrosse contest played at Nazareth College.
Blue Devils eighth-grader Jeremy Hopsicker scored off the rebound from a Matt Heyden shot to tie the game at 1-1 after Newark opened the scoring and, after their opponent took a 2-1 advantage, it was Tucker Sutphen scoring on a bull rush to the net for a 2-2 tie after the first quarter.
Brockport long sticks Colin Beading, Austin King, Trevor Stein and Sean Glynn then took over and held Newark off the scoreboard in the second quarter, the Blue Devils prevented clears for the first seven minutes of the third quarter and held Newark off the board for 27 minutes total to allow the Blue Devils to build the lead.
Vergari scored an unassisted goal at 9:38 of the second before Hopsicker scored his second of the game off a pass from Vergari two minutes later for a 4-2 advantage.
They made it six unanswered tallies in the third quarter as junior Adam Tobey scrambled to score from his knees at 2:38 of the third. Vergari tallied after making a move from behind the net to get loose and, just 19 seconds later, Tyler Stiefel scored on a backhand shot to make it 7-2 Blue Devils.
Vergari completed his hat trick at 10:20 of the third to extend Brockport’s lead to 8-2.
And they would need all of it.
Newark scored in the final minute of the third quarter and twice more in the first minute of the fourth quarter to cut Brockport’s lead to 8-5 and build momentum.
Two more tallies in the fifth and eighth minutes cut the Blue Devils advantage to 8-7, but they held on thanks to a great hustle play by Sutphen to create a turnover on a ball out of bounds in the final minute.
Brockport junior goalie Calum Dunbar was credited with 14 saves in earning the win.
