Danbury, Conn. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team opened the 2017 season on Saturday with a 20-15 road loss at Western Connecticut. Junior Tristan Earle (Millrift, Pa.) led the Knights with five goals, while Dylan De Meo (Franklin Square, N.Y.) posted seven points on the strength of four assists.
 
Western Connecticut outscored the Knights in three of the four periods on Saturday, with the exception being the second stanza. After The Colonials scored the first four goals of the game and five of the first seven, the Knights responded with six of the 11 tallies in the second 15 minutes.
 
With Western Connecticut leading 5-2 heading into the second, the Mount ripped off five straight goals to take its first lead of the game at 7-5. Danny Kugler (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) started the run with a man-up goal and scored three times over the run. De Meo added the other two goals and assisted on Kugler's second.
 
The Colonials rallied with five of the final six goals of the stanza to move back in front 10-8 heading into the intermission. After Kugler's third tally of the five goal run, the Mount went nearly four minutes without a goal, until De Meo potted his third of the game to get the Mount to within 8-7.
 
Mount Saint Mary outshot Western Connecticut 29-25 heading into the break, but the Colonials held a 20-17 edge in shots on goal. Groundballs before halftime went to Western Connecticut 15-8 and face-offs also went against the Knights 12-7.
 
The Colonials built their lead to 16-12 after the third period after outscoring the Mount by two goals before the Knights mounted another rally to pull to within a goal with 8:47 left in regulation. The Knights ripped off four straight goals to end the third and straight the fourth with Earle's fifth tally of the game slashing the Western Connecticut lead to 16-15. Earle score three times over the four goal run for the Mount with Kugler adding his fourth of the game.

Clinging to a one goal lead, the Colonials scored the final four goals of the game, including a man-up tally from Johnnie Ward, to close out the win in both team's season opener.
 
Earle was one of three players for the Mount with multiple goals, leading the way with five markers. De Meo scored three times and added four assists for a team-high seven points. He finished off a solid all-around day with four groundballs.
 
Kugler rounded out the day with his first four goals of the season, adding one groundball. Sean Jennings (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) joined De Meo with four groundballs to lead the Knights, while Kenneth Gallagher (Northport, N.Y.) chipped in with two assists and a team-high two caused turnovers. Joseph Timmons (Staten Island, N.Y.) won 10 face-offs on Saturday for the Knights.
 
Western Connecitcut featured a pair of players with 10 points, including Eric Caldwell who scored seven times and John Foristall who assisted on seven goals. Ryan Yursa won 24 face-offs in the game and led all players with 14 groundballs.
 
Christopher Doerr (Pleasantville, N.Y.) made 13 saves in his season debut for the Knights with A.J. Galletta (Commack, N.Y.) coming on to make a single saves in nearly eight minutes of work. Patrick Tynan earned the win for the Colonials with 16 saves.
 
The Knights held a 53-47 edge in overall shots on the day, while the Colonials finished with a 34-31 advantage in shots on goal. Western Connecticut won the groundball battle 28-15 and took 25 of the 38 face-offs, with the Mount going 19-for-22 on clearing chances.
 
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 0-1 overall on the season. The Knights open the home schedule on Tuesday when they play host to Marywood. Face-off at Kaplan Field is scheduled for 4:00 p.m.