New Hartford – The New Hartford Spartans boy’s lacrosse team outscored the Whitesboro Warriors 9-2 in the second half and went on to a convincing 16-6 victory, today at Don Edick Field in New Hartford.
The dynamic duo of Mike Fiorentino and Connor Nelson combined for 9 of the Spartans goals (Fiorento 5, Nelson 4) and a whopping 11 assists (Nelson had 7) to lead a very potent New Hartford offense. Nelson, a Syracuse University commit as a junior, was simply unstoppable as a playmaker, assisting on goals by 4 different Spartans players.
This one was close in the early going, with the Warriors setting up a very deliberate offense, intent and hopeful to keep the pace below a track meet level. Just 1:52 into the opening quarter, after a series of passes and cuts, Alex Gorgas found the net for Whitesboro to make it 1-0 in favor of the visitors.
Less than two minutes later, Mike Fiorentino fed Dylan Owens, who put one past Whitesboro goalie Anthony Rotundo to tie things up at 1-1.
New Hartford would go up 3-1 over the next four minutes, on goals by Fiorentino and Daniel Torres, with assists from Connor Nelson on both. Then with 1:38 remaining, Whitesboro’s Andrew Yozzo pulled the Warriors to within 3-2, off a gorgeous feed from Jon Wheeler from behind the Spartans net.
Whitesboro tied the game at 3-3 in the first :55 seconds of the second quarter, when Jon Wheeler took a pass from Ryan Rowlands and whistled one past New Hartford net minder Seth Garrett.
The Warriors would see their only lead of the contest with 6:52 remaining in the second quarter, when Ryan Rowlands stole a pass in front of the Spartans net and ripped one home to give Whitesboro a 4-3 advantage.
Trailing by a goal, Nelson and company quite literally shifted things into a higher gear, reeling off 4 goals in a five minute span, to take a 7-4 lead into the intermission. Fiorentino scored once, Dylan Owens twice and Connor Nelson nailed one with 27 seconds before the half to push the Spartans to the 3 goal lead.
Whitesboro never recovered, as New Hartford outscored the Warriors 5-1 in the third quarter and 4-1 in the fourth quarter to claim the 16-6 victory.
New Hartford, which improved to (2-0) in the TVL East and (4-3) Overall, also received 4 goals from Dylan Owens and 3 from Daniel Torres, while goalies Seth Garrett and Connor Lawless combined for 10 saves on 16 shots.
Whitesboro goalie Anthony Rotundo, who was spectacular at times, made 15 saves on the day. Jon Wheeler and Ryan Rowlands led the Warriors with two goals apiece, while Jacob Hyer and Andrew Yozzo added one goal each. The Warriors dropped to (1-1) in the TVL East and (1-4) overall.
Whitesboro 2 2 1 1 6
NH 3 4 5 4 16