Newburgh, N.Y. – Led by six points from junior Ryan Maraio (Staten Island, N.Y.) and 12 saves from classmate Eli Laikin (Oak Bluffs, Mass.), the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team stopped a four game slide and picked up its first conference win of the season on Wednesday with an 11-6 victory over Purchase.
 
The Knights and Panthers split two goals in the opening 15 minutes, before the Mount opened a 4-1 lead with three straight tallies to begin the second stanza. Colby Martin (Huntington, N.Y.) gave the Knights a 2-1 lead with Brian Schneider (Hicksville, N.Y.) and Brian Esposito (Floral Park, N.Y.) adding goals in the first four minutes of the period. Maraio assisted on two of the goals for the Mount, who would not relinquish the lead again in the game.
 
Purchase answered the Mount's run with back-to-back goals just over a minute apart and three of the final four of the second quarter to climb to within 5-4 after 30 minutes of action. The Mount's lone goal over the final six minutes of the first half was a Michael Gallucci (Northport, N.Y.) man-up tally with 2:29 left before halftime.
 
A tightly contested first half saw Purchase hold a 16-15 advantage in shots at the break, including an 11-9 advantage in shots on goal. First half groundballs went to the Knights 20-14 with the Mount holding a 7-4 edge in face-offs at the half after winning six of eight in the second period.
 
Mount Saint Mary would never let the visitors pull even after halftime, but Purchase was able to move to within a single shot on a Dylan Gethicker goal early in the third period that brought the Panthers to within 6-5.
 
Following the Gethicker marker, the Mount reeled off three straight goals to end the third and begin the fourth and five of the final six to pull away in the game. Esposito scored a man-up goal in the third for the Mount and Michael Darcy (Islip, N.Y.) scored once and assisted on two goals over the closing run.
 
Maraio finished off a big day with three goals and three assists, moving his team lead in assists to 18 and his team mark in points to 34. Esposito and Darcy each finished with three point nights, with Esposito scoring twice and assisting on another goal and Darcy potting his fifth goal of the year and helping on two other tallies.
 
Freshman Chris Maggio (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and sophomore Matthew Martino (Watertown, Conn.) each scooped seven groundballs for the Mount and caused two turnovers with Darcy adding five groundballs to his three-point night. Freshman Dennis Dowd (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) won 13 face-offs on the night and collected four groundballs in the win.
 
Purchase was led by three assists and five points from Gethicker with Dan Ohrem adding a pair of goals. Joseph Ely and Ben Erkan each won four face-offs for the Panthers with Ely leading the team with five groundballs.
 
Laikin picked up his fourth win in goal on Wednesday and reached double-figures in saves for the eighth time in 2019. He stopped 12 shots, including seven in the first half, giving his 122 stops on the season. He closed the win with three groundballs. Matt Sayegh also made 12 stops in the loss for Purchase, adding three groundballs and a caused turnover.
 
Overall, Mount Saint Mary finished the night with the advantage in shots 37-27, shots on goal 23-18, groundballs 41-33 and face-offs 13-8. The Knights went 3-for-6 with the man advantage and were 21-for-25 in clearing chances.
 
Wednesday's win moves Mount Saint Mary to 4-8 overall on the season and to 1-1 in Skyline Conference play. Next up for the Knights is a conference home game with the College of Mount Saint Vincent on Saturday afternoon. Face-off with the Dolphins on Senior Day is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.