ONEONTA, NY – Things looked bleak for the Hartwick men's lacrosse team as visiting Farmingdale State bolted out to a 6-0 lead with just over 11 minutes gone in the game on Saturday at Wright Stadium. The resilient Hawks, however, outscored the Rams 6-1 in the second half, which included three fourth-quarter tallies, to force overtime. It would end up taking three extra periods to settle it as Dylan Ferguson (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) scored from in front off a Tim Watson (Wrentham, MA/King Philip Regional) feed 45 ticks into the third overtime to lift the Hawks to a heart-stopping 10-9 win.
           
Offensively, the Hawks were paced by freshman Kainen Francis-Thompson (Hogansburg, NY/Massena), who had three goals and an assist. Nick Couvaris (Seaford, NY/Seaford) scored twice and David Demand (Chittenango, NY/Chittenango) had a goal and two assists. Goalkeeper C.J. Alesandrini (Schenectady, NY/Colonie) tied a career-high with 15 saves. The total including four stops in the first two overtime periods. Senior defender Garrison Wojtas (Hauppauge, NY/Hauppauge) was dominant for the Hawks as he equaled a career-high with a team-best 12 ground balls. He also caused a career-and game-high eight turnovers.
           
The Rams would open up the scoring 4:11 into the game and they followed it up with four goals in a 2:07 span for an early 5-0 advantage. Jake Satterley scored the third of his game-high four goals at the 4:19 mark and the Rams were in front 6-0.
           
Couvaris would answer from Demand with less than two seconds left to play in the quarter to trim the gap to five. Chris VanDemark (Painted Post, NY/Corning Painted Post) added an unassisted goal 4:47 into the second quarter to make it 6-2. The Rams tallied at 8:34 before Alec Lind (Ballston Lake, NY/Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake) scored off a Demand dish 5:14 later. FSC tacked on one more goal with under a minute left in the second quarter and the visitors entered halftime up five goals, 8-3.
           
The two teams traded goals over the first six and a half minutes of the third quarter. Demand scored for the Hawks and Satterley answered for the Rams. Couvaris netted his second with 6:01 left in the quarter. It would be the first goal in a 6-0 run to end the game for the Hawks. Wojtas scored for the second consecutive game at the 5:38 mark and 'Wick trailed 9-6 heading into the final quarter.
           
Francis-Thompson would score all three of his goals in a 7:41 span to pull his team even with the Rams. He tallied at 11:31 from Sam Ferguson (Baldwin, NY/Baldwin) and added an unassisted goal nearly six minutes later. Ferguson set him up again with 3:50 showing on the clock and the Hawks had come all the way back to tie the game. Both teams fired two shots in the final 3:50 but none found the target and the game went to a first overtime.
           
Hartwick had the edge in shots, 3-2, over the first four-minute extra session. Demand and Francis-Thompson both had shots turned away by Ram goalie Dan Wood. Alesandrini also had two saves in the Hawks' cage.
           
Both sides hit the pipe in the second overtime period with Lind doing the honors for the Hawks at 2:35 and Satterley smacking the post with 18 ticks left.
           
Tyler Coleman (Round Lake, NY/Shenendehowa), who went 3-of-11 on the draw for the game, came up with a huge face-off win for the Hawks to start the third extra period. Lind grabbed the ground ball which would later set the stage for Watson connecting with Dylan Ferguson on the doorstep for the winner.
           
Hartwick closed the game out-shooting Farmingdale 49-44. The Rams had the edge in ground balls, 48-42.
           
Lind, Demand, and Couvaris each contributed four ground balls for the Hawks. Sam Ferguson, Alesandrini, Matt Puzo (Apalachin, NY/Vestal), and Derek Chandler (Ballston Spa, NY/Ballston Spa) chipped in three apiece. Wojtas had more caused turnovers than the entire Rams' team (6). Sam Ferguson and Andrew Wright (Mahopac, NYMahopac) added one caused turnover apiece for 'Wick.
           
John McMahon would win 19-of-24 face-offs on the day for the Rams. He also collected a game-high 19 ground balls.
           
Hartwick is next in action on Tuesday, March 12 at SUNY Oneonta. Game time is 4 p.m.
           
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