Canton, NY – The SUNY Canton men's lacrosse team had a successful winning season posting a 6-2 conference record narrowly coming up short of its first ever North Atlantic Conference (NAC) championship and NCAA Tournament berth.
 
After dropping its opening three games of the season, the Roos responded with back-to-back wins v. Castleton (19-14) and Wells (21-6). It was the second consecutive win for Canton against the Spartans. Hunter Olsen and Alex Jacobs combined for 10 goals and seven assists against Castleton, while 14 different players scored in the win v. the Express.
 
The team dropped its NAC opener to SUNY Delhi but rattled off three straight conference wins at Husson (March 19th | 24-15), v. NVU-Lyndon (April 2nd | 23-4) and at MCLA (April 9th | 23-5). Zack LaFave netted a game-high five goals in the win v. the Eagles, while Hunter Olsen set the NCAA D-III era points record in the convincing victory v. the Hornets. The senior attack continued to put his name in the record books setting single-game points and assists marks in the win against the Trailblazers.  
   
The Roos saw their three-game conference win streak snapped dropping a heartbreaker 16-15 in overtime to SUNY Poly on April 13th. The team battled back winning their final three NAC games to end the regular season. Sam Servati made 11 saves in an 11-6 road win at Thomas. Olsen broke the 100 career goal barrier and Noel Abreu set the NCAA D-III era single-season and single-game ground balls records as Canton sent it seniors out in style with a 23-19 win in the home finale v. Maine Maritime. The team closed out the regular season with a 23-9 road win at Cobleskill as six different players finished with hat tricks.
 
SUNY Canton earned the three seed in the NAC Tournament and pulled off a thrilling 17-16 upset at SUNY Poly behind a 10 point performance from Olsen. The Roos led 18-17 five minutes into the fourth quarter of the NAC championship game, but four unanswered tallies gave the Mariners a 21-18 win.
 
Olsen led the Roos with 101 points on 54 goals and 47 assists, while Alex Jacobs (47 goals, 8 assists) and Austin Mesler (33 goals, 22 assists) recorded 55 points each. LaFave (29-5-34), Caeden Goodnough (15-18-33) and Noah Robinson (12-14-26) all had 25 or more points on the season.
 
Abreu led the team with 191 face off wins and 131 ground balls winning 59 percent of his face offs. Servati finished with a 9-7 record during his first season totaling a 15.65 goals against average and .491 save percentage.
 
Olsen was named to the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) National Team of the Week and the NAC Player of the Week on four occasions. He finishes his career with program records in career points (216) and second in career assists (99). Olsen also set the single-season program marks in points (101), goals (54) and assists (47) and has the single-game records in points (14), goals (8) and assists (8). He was named the SUNY Canton Athletic Department's Co-Male Student-Athlete of the Year.
 
In addition to Olsen, Mesler was tabbed the department's Co-Male Rookie of the Year, while LaFave earned the highest male cumulative GPA award. Other accolades for the Roos included Jacobs earning NAC Rookie of the Week honors three times (2/28, 3/7/4/11), Servati (4/11) and Abreu (4/25) being named the NAC Defensive Player of the Week once each, and Jake Erskine being recognized as the NAC Rookie of the Week once (3/14).  
 
 
Following the season Olsen was named the NAC Player of the Year for the second consecutive season and LaFave was recognized as the NAC Senior Scholar Athlete and to the Sportmanship Team.  Olsen, Mesler and Jacobs were all named First Team All-Conference with Abreu and Chris McCann picking up Second Team recognition.
 
SUNY Canton loses Trent Dow, Israel Akande, McCann, LaFave, Olsen and Abreu to graduation.

   


About SUNY Canton
As Northern New York's premier college for career-driven bachelor's degrees, associate degrees and professional certificate programs, SUNY Canton delivers quality hands-on programs in digital design, engineering technology, health, management and public service. Faculty members are noted for their professional real-world experience in addition to outstanding academic credentials. As SUNY's leader in online education, SUNY Canton OnLine offers hundreds of flexible and convenient courses as well as 23 online degree programs. The college placed first in 14 categories in a SUNY-Wide Student Opinion Survey, most notably in career services, tutoring, library resources, and classroom facilities. The SUNY Canton Kangaroos 15 traditional athletic teams compete at the NCAA Division III level as part of the North Atlantic Conference. SUNY Canton also features varsity esports and cheerleading.