Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team returns to action on Thursday with an important Skyline Conference road tilt at St. Joseph's-L.I. Face-off with the Golden Eagles is scheduled for 5:30 p.m. with Live Stats and Video available for those who cannot attend the game.
 
At A Glance: The Knights have won their last two outings and have put themselves in position to clinch a berth in Skyline Conference Championship with a victory on Thursday. The Mount stands at 5-8 overall on the season and 2-1 in Skyline Conference competition.
 
The Knights enter Thursday's contest with three players with at least 12 goals on the season, led by 21 markers and 28 points from junior Billy Holland (Pearl River, N.Y.). Classmate Ryan Maraio (Staten Island, N.Y.) checks in with 17 goals and adds team-highs in assists with 20 and points with 37. Sophomore Thomas Bahmer III (East Brunswick, N.J.) checks in with 12 goals to go along with 13 groundballs.
 
Sophomore Matthew Martino (Watertown, Conn.) and senior Peter Beild (Clifton Park, N.Y.) anchor the defense for the Knights through 13 contests. Martino leads the team in caused turnovers with 37 and groundballs with 52, while Beidl is contributing 16 caused turnovers and 30 groundballs. Freshman Chris Maggio (Valley Stream, N.Y.) is putting together a solid rookie campaign with 34 groundballs and 14 caused turnovers.
 
At the face-off 'x', the Mount holds a team percentage of .447 with junior Marco Spagnuolo (Staten Island, N.Y.) going 84-for-181 with 32 groundballs and freshman Dennis Dowd (Hopewell Junction, N.Y.) going 54-for-127 with 15 groundballs.
 
Junior Eli Laikin (Oak Bluffs, Mass.) has manned the cage for the Knights in 2019, playing 675:35 of a possible 787:51. He holds a save percentage of .481 and a goals against average of 11.90 while stopping 124 opponent shots.
 
The Knights enter Thursday's contest ranked third in the league in caused turnovers per game (11.3) with Martino leading the conference in caused miscues per game with nearly three per outing. Maraio currently sits seventh in the conference in points per game, while Laikin ranks fourth in saves per game.
 
Scouting St. Joseph's: The Golden Eagles enter Thursday's contest at 4-8 overall and 1-3 in league play and are coming off a 17-7 loss to Maritime on Saturday. Matt Trautman and Mike McCarthy each scored two goals in the game, with Kyle Linsalata making nine saves in 30 minutes of action in goal.
 
Anthony Passarella leads the St. Joseph's scoring attack with 22 goals, with Chris Nielsen pacing the Golden Eagles with 17 assists and 35 points, with Tim McCann and McCarthy chipping in 20 and 21 points, respectively.
 
Jesse McKeever leads the way with 61 groundballs on the season and is one of three players with at least 50 groundballs on the year. Christian Prate has caused a team-high 25 turnovers and scooped 52 groundballs, with Declan Canevari going 121-for-183 in face-offs to go along with 54 groundballs.
 
In goal, Andrew Brust has played a team-high 524:10 and holds a .584 save percentage and a 9.96 goals against average. He has made a team-high 122 saves.
 
Among the conference leaders, Brust leads the league in save percentage and is third in saves per game, while Canevari paces the league in face-off win percentage.
 
Recent History: The Knights have won each of the previous two meetings between the two programs, posting an 11-9 win in 2017 and an 11-7 victory a season ago.
 
What's At Stake: A win on Thursday would push the Mount to 3-1 in league action and drop St. Joseph's to 1-4 against conference rivals with one game remaining for the Golden Eagles and contests at USMMA and at home against Maritime remaining for the Mount. A win for the Knights would guarantee at least a .500 finish in the conference and give it head-to-head victories over each of the three teams currently below them in the league standings.
 
What's Next: The Knights will wrap up the regular season with a trip to the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Wednesday and a home game against Maritime in the regular season finale on April 28.