Lacrosse Downs Lafayette in Season Opener, 13-12

USAF ACADEMY – Air Force defeated Lafayette College in the 2026 season opener, 13-12, at Falcon Stadium on Sunday afternoon. The Falcons redeemed the 2025 season-opening loss to the Leopards one year ago to the date.

SIGNIFICANT STATS
-Air Force senior and co-team captain Caelan Driggs put up a hat trick for his 18^th career hat trick performance. He has scored a goal in 20-straight games dating back to the 2024 season. His third goal marked the 100^th of his career.
-Falcon freshman Christian Schweiger, starting in his first collegiate appearance, scored five points via three goals and two assists for a promising start to his career at USAFA.
-Senior midfielder Luke Vrsansky tallied a hat trick on four shots.
-AF LSM Cole Cunningham and teammate SSDM Charlie Pyfer led the defense with three caused turnovers each. Cunningham led the team with four ground balls collected.
-Sophomore GK Matt Deedy earned the win in his first career start, making nine saves for a .427 save percentage.

GAME NOTES
-Air Force won a season opener for the first time since defeating Duke in game one of 2020
-The Falcons reclaimed the series lead against Lafayette, 2-1
-Three Falcons made their first career starts; two freshen Christian Schweiger and Jack Gounaris and sophomore goalie Matt Deedy.

HOW IT HAPPENED
LC was first to strike at the 13:49 mark but AF responded harshly, rattling off four-straight goals from 11:10 to 2:35; Luke Vrsansky, Cole Rassas, Caelan Driggs, and Mana Wilhelm scoring the goals. The Leopards broke the 12-minute scoring drought with a goal from Benjamin Dibattista. Falcon youngsters Sam Lovell and Ben Heidt connected for the final goal of the quarter (00:36) to give AF a 5-2 lead heading into the second quarter.

Driggs notched his second goal just 30 seconds out of the break with help from Schweiger. LC responded with a pair of goals at 13:40 and 11:20 to bring the score within two, 6-4. Cole Rassas helped Schweiger with his first goal at 9:43 and Charlie Pyfer tacked on another at 8:15. Nick Blalok made it 8-5 with an unassisted goal at 6:41. Schweiger scored his second (2:18) and Driggs scored his third (00:43). LC scored once more to make the score 10-6 at halftime.

Similar to last season's meeting, Air Force dulled out in the second half, scoring just two goals in the second 30 minutes. Senior midfielder Luke Vrsansky was credited with both goals with Rassas assisting both times. LC tracked AF down to just a one goal difference but was unable to convert in the waning seconds.

NEXT UP
The Falcons hit the road to take on in-state rival University of Denver, Saturday, February 7. Action at Peter Barton Stadium is set for 1 p.m.

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