SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – The Skidmore College men's lacrosse team secured the fourth seed and locked up a home playoff game in the 2025 Liberty League postseason after dominating Ithaca in the second half for the 15-10 senior day victory at Wachenheim Field on Saturday afternoon.
Led by a four goal, three assist performance from freshman
Mike Aiello, the Thoroughbreds (8-6, 4-3 Liberty League) put up ten second-half goals over the Bombers (9-8, 3-4 Liberty League) to flip a tightly contested one-goal first half lead into a run-away blowout victory.
Following the game, the program recognized its 13-member 2025 senior class of
James Bell,
Tim Blue,
Jon Bouvier,
Ryan Connolly,
Jack Doherty,
Jimmy Gibbons,
Brian Gonsalves,
Collin Kuester,
Nicolo Mazzocca,
David Muti,
Owen Quinn,
Dimitri Sfakiyanudis and
Justin Yuan with senior day celebrations.
HOW IT HAPPENED
- The Thoroughbreds struck first in a low-scoring first quarter, with Connolly scoring in solo fashion at the 5:33 mark.
- The Bombers closed out the quarter with a pair of goals in quick succession with under two-minutes left on the clock to take a 2-1 lead entering the second period.
- To start the second, Skidmore strung together three-straight solo goals off the sticks of junior Caleb Lawson, Aiello and a man-up score from Connolly to take a 4-2 lead with 8:00 remaining in the half.
- After Ithaca responded with back-to-back scores to tie the game up, Aiello closed out the half with an unassisted score at the 1:47 to give the Thoroughbreds the narrow 5-4 lead at intermission.
- At halftime, the Thoroughbreds dominated possession of the ball after forcing six Ithaca turnovers and having only two giveaways of their own, while also winning faceoffs 7-to-4.
- It was all Skidmore coming out of the third quarter as the home team put up four quick goals off the sticks of sophomore Jon Byrne, Gonsalves, junior David Koffler and Aiello to take a commanding 9-4 lead with 5:15 remaining in the quarter.
- However, Ithaca did not allow the Thoroughbreds to pull away after responding with three quick goals in the closing minutes that included a last second shoot and score with six-tenths of a second remaining on the clock, to cut the lead down to 9-7.
- In the fourth quarter, the Thoroughbreds did manage to pull away after scoring the first five goals of the period to double up the Bombers, 14-7, with 6:43 left in regulation. Byrne struck twice, alongside goals from Aiello, Doherty and Connolly in the scoring run.
- Skidmore scored once more in the closing minutes of the game off the stick of Koffler with 1:05 on the clock.
STANDOUT THOROUGHBREDS
- Kuester had a big performance at goalie after stacking up 16 saves on the day for his 21st career victory.
- Aiello starred offensively with four goals and three assists in addition to four groundballs.
- Connolly recorded a hat trick on six shot attempts.
- Byrne finished with three goals, one assist and four groundball pickups.
- Junior Jason Fastiggi finished 12-of-23 on faceoffs to go with eight groundballs and one caused turnover.
- Junior Marty McFadden caused a team-high three turnovers.
UP NEXT
The postseason begins on Tuesday with the fourth-seeded Thoroughbreds hosting fifth-seeded Ithaca in a first round matchup. The start time is set for 4 PM at Wachenheim Field.
