Galloway, N.J. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team fell in its regular season finale at Stockton on Saturday night by a score of 17-8. By virtue of Kean's road win at St. Joseph's-L.I., the Knights have earned the program's first ever berth into the Skyline Conference Championship as the sixth seed and will be in action on the road April 29.
 
Mount Saint Mary got off to a fast start on Saturday and held a 4-2 lead after the opening period. Following a Tommy Gallo goal for the Ospreys just under three minutes into the game, the Knights ripped off three straight goals to move in front 3-1. Dylan De Meo (Franklin Square, N.Y.), Kenneth Gallagher (Northport, N.Y.) and Danny Kugler (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) all scored just over four minutes apart to move the Knights in front.
 
Following a Colin Shea foal that stopped the Mount's run, the Knights scored three of the next four goals to move in front 6-3 with a De Meo tally at the 6:41 mark of the second period. The Knights would not score again before halftime and the Ospreys scored three times in the final 1:59 of the half to knot the score at 6-6 after 30 minutes.
 
The Knights held the edge in first half shots 21-19 and went 9-for-10 in clearing chances before the break. Stockton picked up 11 of the 17 first half groundballs and controlled faces-offs 12-1.
 
The evenly matched contested continued through the third quarter, a period that saw Stockton edge the Knights 3-2 to take a 9-8 lead into the final stanza. Following a Gallagher goal with 6:43 left in the third that tied the score at 8-8, the Ospreys scored the final nine goals, including all eight in the fourth period to secure the win.
 
The Knights were outshot 31-10 in the second half on Saturday and Stockton finished the second half with a 21-8 advantage in groundballs and a 13-2 edge in face-offs.
 
De Meo, Gallagher, Nicholas Graziano (Franklin Square, N.Y.) and Kugler all scored twice for the Knights with Kugler, Gallagher and Tristan Earle (Millrift, Pa.) finishing with assists. De Meo and Michael Capetola (Egg Harbor Township, N.J.) each picked up two groundballs for the Knights.
 
Gallo and Shea each scored four times for the Ospreys with Tyler Bollard going 25-for-28 in face-offs to go along with 16 groundballs.
 
Christopher Doerr (Pleasantville, N.Y.) finished the night with 14 saves for the Knights to go along with a pair of groundballs. Justin Ruiz picked up the win for Stockton with 10 saves.
 
Overall, Stockton finished with a 50-31 edge in shots and a 31-19 advantage in shots on goal. Groundballs went to the Ospreys 32-14 as did face-offs 25-3.
 
Saturday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 6-9 overall on the season and to 4-5 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is the First Round of the Skyline Conference Championship on April 29. Game time and opponent to be announced.