Poughkeepsie, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team returned to action on Tuesday and suffered a 24-4 loss at local foe Vassar. Junior Billy Holland (Pearl River, N.Y.) led the scoring attack for the Knights with a pair of goals.
 
The Brewers got off to a fast start on Tuesday, scoring the only five goals in the opening 15 minutes and the first six in the game overall. Sophomore Anthony Kearns (Clinton, N.J.) finally broke through for the Knights at the 13:38 mark of the second stanza to bring the Mount to within 6-1.
 
Following the Kearns marker, Vassar ripped off the final nine goals of the second quarter to carry a commanding 15-1 lead into the intermission. Connor Deehan, Tomas Meade and James Thomas each scored a goal and had an assist over the run, with Austin Mello assisting on three tallies.
 
Vassar finished the opening 30 minutes with a 27-6 advantage in shots that included a 21-4 edge in shots on goal. Groundballs in the first half went to the Brewers 26-13 with Vassar dominating face-offs 15-3.
 
Holland scored the first two goals of the third period for the Knights to bring them to within 15-3, but Vassar closed the game with nine of the final 10 tallies to close out the 20 goal decision. Senior Vincent Escudero (Bridgewater, N.J.) finished off the scoring for the Mount in the final minute of the third quarter.
 
Holland finished the day with half of the team's scoring and moved his team lead to goals to six while moving to within one point of the team lead with seven. Escudero scored for the second time in 2019, while Kearns found the back of the cage for the fourth time. Michael Gallucci (Northport, N.Y.) and Brian Esposito (Floral Park, N.Y.) each recorded an assist for the Mount.
 
Chris Maggio (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and Brian Schneider (Hicksville, N.Y.) led the Knights with three groundballs apiece, with Peter Beidl (Clifton Park, N.Y.), Matthew Martino (Watertown, Conn.), Maggio and Sean Nertney (Lynbrook, N.Y.) each causing a turnover.
 
Vassar's offensive attack was led by four goals and five points from Mullen, with Chandler Arney going 15-for-18 in face-offs with 11 groundballs and Matthew Lowery winning 11 of his 12 draws while adding 10 groundballs.
 
Two Mount Saint Mary goalies combined for 10 saves with Eli Laikin (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) making six first half stops. Devin Kelley (Hebron, Conn.) came on in the second half and made four stops in his collegiate debut. Devin Lee finished the night with a team-high four stops for Vassar in 30 minutes of work.
 
For the night, Vassar finished with the advantage in shots 45-15, shots on goal 34-11, groundballs 48-27 and face-offs 26-6. Mount Saint Mary finished the night 13-for-18 in clearing attempts with neither team finding a goal with the man advantage.
 
At 1-2 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary will look to rebound on Saturday when it travels to Albright. Face-off with the Lions is set for 4:00 p.m.