Kings Point, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team saw its season come to an end on Saturday night with a 26-14 loss on the road at the United States Merchant Marine Academy in the First Round of the 2017 Skyline Conference Championship. Junior Dylan De Meo (Franklin Square, N.Y.) led the Mount with eight points.
 
The Knights found themselves down six seconds into the game after a goal from Chris Whitenack. The Knights potted the next two goals with tallies from Tristan Earle (Millrift, Pa.) and Danny Kugler (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) to take a 2-1 lead with 10:53 left in the first period.
 
With the game tied 3-3 following a Kenneth Gallagher (Northport, N.Y.) man-up goal with 5:59 left in the opening stanza, the Mariners went on a 5-1 run to carry an 8-4 lead into the second quarter. Pat Coll scored three times for USMMA over the run, including consecutive goals 1:17 apart.
 
USMMA dominated the second period, scoring 11 times to take a commanding 19-6 lead into the intermission. Ryan Maraio (Staten Island, N.Y.) cut the Mount's deficit to 8-5 early in the second frame, before the Mariners used an eight goal run to close the second period.  
 
The Mariners held a 43-14 advantage in shots at halftime on Saturday and dominated groundballs 28-4 and face-offs 25-2.
 
The Mariners stifled the Knights in the third period, allowing just two goals as they built their lead to 25-8 through 45 minutes of action. De Meo and Gallagher scored in the frame for the Knights who went on to outscore USMMA 6-1 in the final period. Kugler scored twice in the final frame with De Meo adding two assists.
 
De Meo became the Knights first ever 100 point player in a season with eight points on Saturday. He scored twice and assisted on six goals to go along with a pair of groundballs. He finishes the season with 105 points on 40 goals and 65 assists.
 
Kugler and Gallagher each scored three times with Nicholas Graziano (Franklin Square, N.Y.) and Earle each potting two goals. Peter Beidl (Clifton Park, N.Y.) led the Mount with three groundballs with Christian Hildebrand (Bristol, Conn.) causing a pair of turnovers.
 
USMMA was led by eight goals and nine points from Coll and three goals and 10 points from Nick Treon. Chris Whitenack controlled the face-off game, going 30-for-35 with 23 groundballs. In two games against the Mount this year, Whitenack is 64-for-69 with 49 groundballs.
 
Christopher Doerr (Pleasantville, N.Y.) made seven saves in goal for the Knights, with senior A.J. Galletta (Commack, N.Y.) coming on to play seven saves in just over 22 minutes of work. Dave Ossing stopped three shots in 30 minutes, with Zac Tilley making five saves for the Mariners.
 
USMMA rounded out the night with the advantage in shots 67-37, shots on goal 40-22, groundballs 46-21 and face-offs 34-9. The Knights finished 15-for-17 in clearing chances and 3-for-6 in extra man opportunities.
 
Saturday's loss closes the Mount's season at 6-10 overall.