Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary Men's Lacrosse team was dealt a hard fought 12-11 loss on Saturday afternoon by visiting conference rival Kean. The Knights' offensive attack was led by junior Joseph Rizzotti (East Meadow, N.Y.) who finished the contest with four goals.
 
After the two teams alternated the first three goals of the game, Mount Saint Mary ran off three straight goals to open a 4-2 advantage with 13:41 left in the second quarter. Tristan Earle (Millrift, Pa.), Rizzoti and Kenneth Gallagher (Northport, N.Y.) netted goals in the run, while Dylan De Meo (Franklin Square, N.Y.) assisted on a pair of tallies.
 
The Mount maintained the advantage until consecutive goals from the visitors in the middle stages of the second quarter knotted the score at 4-4 and the Knights would not trail again until a Matt Brodley marker in the final minute of the half sent Kean to the intermission with a slim 6-5 edge.
 
Kean doubled up the Knights in shots before halftime, 20-10, and held the edge in groundballs 18-12 and face-offs 11-2. Christopher Doerr (Pleasantville, N.Y.) rounded out the first half with five stops for the Knights.
 
The two teams traded goals to start the third stanza, before the Cougars ran off five of the next seven goals to build a 12-8 edge with just shy of four minutes left in the third period. Kean outscored Mount Saint Mary 6-2 in third quarter with the eventual game winning goal coming from Brodley with 3:58 left in the period.
 
Trailing by four after 45 minutes of action, the Mount kept Kean off the board in the fourth and tallied three times and had possession in the final minute of the fourth quarter. Danny Kugler (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) potted his 38^th goal of the season with 9:38 left in regulation, before Rizzotti tallied his fourth of the game with 5:25 left. Gallagher found the back of the net with a man-up goal with 1:40 remaining to bring the Knights to within a goal and the Mount had a shot from Rizzotti saved in the closing seconds.
 
Rizzotti rounded out the game with a team-high four goals, with Kugler finishing up with three tallies for the Knights. Gallagher scored twice and De Meo finished the game with five assists, becoming the first player in program history to record 70 points in a season.
 
De Meo added five groundballs for the Knights on Saturday and joined Nicholas Wise (Pine Bush, N.Y.) with a pair of caused turnovers. Earle closed out a solid day with three points, including two assists.
 
Kean was paced by three goals from a trio of players and got a strong day from Ed Adams in face-offs as he went 24-for-27 with a game-high 16 groundballs. Brodley led the team with five points, scoring three times and assisting on two others.
 
Doerr closed out the day with 10 saves in goals for the Knights and led the team with six groundballs on the day. Maxwell Fields picked up the win in cage for the Cougars, making four saves.
 
Overall, Kean held the edge in shots 40-28, shots on goal 22-15and groundballs 40-21. The Cougars dominated face-offs on Saturday, losing just three in the game.
 
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 10-3 overall and to 1-2 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is a trip to Maritime on Wednesday. Face-off with the Privateers is scheduled for 5:00 p.m.

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