Albany can finish a perfect conference regular season with a win against UMBC on Saturday.
LOUDONVILLE, N.Y. -- No. 7 Albany proved to be the top dogs in the Capital District once again on Tuesday, dominating Siena 23-7 on the road for its fifth consecutive victory.
“I was very pleased to how we responded after a huge win on Saturday against Yale, coming out three days later against a tough Siena team,” said Albany coach Scott Marr.
“We started off great with an outstanding first quarter; we gobbled up every ground ball, Blaze [Riorden] had some key saves, and offensively, we did a great job of moving the ball and finding the open man.”
After allowing the first score, Albany (12-2) scored the next 18 goals in the next 36:12 against Siena (5-8), leading 17-1 at the half and at one point having an 18-goal lead. It is the fifth time this season that Albany has scored in double digits.
“I would say the ride was the most exciting part of our game today,” said Marr. “The amount of turnovers that we caused because of our hustle; riding is just that, all hustle and heart.”
16 different Albany players earned points against Siena. Seth Oakes led Albany in goals for the fifth consecutive game, finishing with four. John Maloney scored two goals and added two assists, Bennett Drake had a hat trick and an assist while Lyle Thompson and Kyle McClancy each had three points.
“We were moving the ball and running our offense,” said Maloney.
“We got good opportunities and made our shots. We were trying to get Lyle [Thompson] the ball, and when he would dodge, they would send a double early, so we moved off-ball, and Lyle [Thompson] would find us.”
On the defensive end, Albany allowed just one goal in the first half. Blaze Riorden saved six shots in the first half to earn the win while JD Colarusso defended in the second half, concluding with three saves.
“We didn’t play as individuals, we played together as a team as one,” said Riorden. “Give [Siena] credit, they got some good shots off, but our defense played really well.”
For Siena, Tim Cousin netted two goals, adding an assist and was the only Saint to score multiple points. Nick Capalbo got the loss with eight saves and 17 goals allowed in the first half.
Albany will go for a perfect conference regular season on Saturday, April 25th, hosting UMBC at 3 p.m. at Bob Ford Field. The game will be televised late on the Time Warner Cable SportsChannel.
