Men’s Lacrosse Wins First Annual “LarGer Than Life Game”

By Carter Schum | April 21, 2026

 Men’s lacrosse celebrated the first ever LarGer Than Life Game last Tuesday (4/14).    Photo Credit: Ethan Hutchinson / UAlbany Athletics

On Saturday April 14, the University at Albany men’s lacrosse team bested the Siena Saints in the first annual “LarGer Than Life Game” by a score of 9-7. The game marked the first time the two local rivals faced each other since the passing of Liam Gleason, who spent time as a player and assistant coach at UAlbany, and also as a head coach at Siena.

The game swung in favor of the Great Danes early on. Silas Richmond found Ben Wimmer for the game's first goal with 12:57 remaining in the first quarter, making the score 1-0. 

Following the opening goal, for more than four minutes the game saw no goals scored by either side, as a series of saves and turnovers slowed it down. 

This drought was broken by Silas Richmond, who beat Saints goalie Vito DeBellis in the lower left corner of the goal, making the score 2-0 at the 8:05 mark of the first quarter. 

The Great Danes were successful at throwing the body and forcing turnovers, as they had forced five turnovers within the first 10 minutes of the contest. 

Siena got on the board just over four and a half minutes into the game, as Connor Hufnagel scored his first goal of the game, beating Brady Smith from up close. 

Matthew Pettis got the goal back for UAlbany just over two minutes later, to bring the Great Dane advantage to 3-1. This proved to be the last goal of the first quarter. 

The Saints struck first in the second quarter, as Nikolas Barbero finished through contact to bring the score to 3-2 inside the first minute. 

Ryan Doherty appeared to have scored his first of the game a couple of minutes later, but was immediately called for a crease violation and the goal was waved off. 

Travis Fry leveled the game at 3-3 for the Saints with 10:36 remaining in the second quarter, sending the traveling Siena fans to their feet. 

UAlbany got their first man-up chance just over nine minutes into the game as Joe Valenza was flagged for a slash. However, this was killed off by Siena. 

Max Neeson scored a pole goal at the 5:44 mark of the second quarter to give the Great Danes the lead back, 4-3. Ryan Doherty scored less than 90 seconds later, to bring the advantage back to 5-3, off of a great feed from Brendan O’Keefe. 

Patrick Linton stopped the UAlbany run with 2:20 remaining in the first quarter, as off of a forced turnover, he made it a 5-4 game. Connor Hufnagel scored once again less than a minute later to level the game 5-5. 

The third quarter began with Connor Hufnagel completing his hat trick to give the Saints their first lead of the game with 12:13 left in the third quarter, 

Ryan Doherty scored his second consecutive goal in highlight fashion as he beat DeBellis with a between the legs shot to level the game with 6:41 remaining in the third stanza. 

Daniel Kesselring scored his first goal since his return from injury at the 2:55 mark of the third quarter to bring the Great Danes back in the lead, 7-6. 

This lead did not last long, as Travis Fry leveled the score, 7-7 with under 18 seconds left in the third quarter.

The fourth quarter started with a long scoreless drought from both teams, however James Read was able to beat Debellis to put UAlbany back in front 8-7, with 8:14 left to play. 

Brendan O’Keefe found the back of the net with 6:34 remaining, as DeBellis was unable to make a save after having to quickly rush back to his net. 

The next nearly four minutes saw another scoring drought, as the Great Danes slowed down the pace of the game considerably looking to protect the slim lead. This continued for the rest of the game, as the Great Danes were able to hold the Saints off of the scoreboard for the rest of the game and win 9-7.