Newburgh, N.Y. – Playing the second game of a season-long five game home stand, the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team was topped by visiting Emerson 8-4 Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Chris Maggio (Valley Steam, N.Y.) picked up seven groundballs in the game, while Zachary Beam (Montgomery, N.Y.) won 12 face-offs.
 
After trading the first two goals of the game over the opening two-and-a-half minutes, the visiting Lions ran off the final two goals of the first period and the only three goals of the second stanza to carry a 6-1 lead into the intermission.
 
Skyler Celotto opened the scoring at the 13:29 mark of the first quarter before Ryan Maraio (Staten Island, N.Y.) quickly answered to knot the score at 1-1 off a feed from Thomas Bahmer III (East Brunswick, N.Y.) just under a minute later.
 
Following the Maraio goal, Emerson scored five straight and held the Mount off the board until the 1:55 mark of the third quarter. Celotto sparked the first half run with a goal and two helpers with Austin Franklin adding a man-up goal in the middle stages of the second stanza.
 
Emerson closed the opening 30 minutes of play with a 20-12 advantage in shots, while the Mount held a 19-16 edge in groundballs and dominated first half face-offs 8-1.
 
The third period was scoreless until the 1:55 mark when the Mount scored just its second goal of the contest. Nick Gurello (Selden, N.Y.) scored his first career goal to for the only marker of the third period and Matthew Esposito (Manorville, N.Y.) opened the final period with his first career tally to bring the Mount to within 6-3 with 13:39 left to play.
 
Emerson answered with its only two goals of the second half when Hunter Gervais and Celotto scored consecutive goals to move the Lions lead back to five goals with just under four minutes left in the game. Billy Holland (Pearl River, N.Y.) finished off the scoring in the contest in the final half minute with his third tally of the season.
 
Mount Saint Mary finished the game with six different players registering a point with Maraio and Holland moving into a three-way tie for the team lead in goals with three.
 
Maggio caused a team-high four turnovers in the game for the Knights and collected a team-high seven groundballs, with Holland and Maraio each causing a pair of miscues. Beam finished up the afternoon 12-for-15 in face-offs to go along with six groundballs.
 
Emerson was led by two goals and four points from Celotto with Gervais finishing off the day with a pair of goals and an assist. Celotto finished off a strong all-around game with two caused turnovers and seven groundballs.
 
Sophomore Devin Kelley (Hebron, Conn.) made eight saves for the Knights in his third start of the season in goal, adding three groundballs. Malcolm McGrath earned the win in goal for the Lions with eight stops and a game-high eight groundballs.
 
Emerson finished the day with a slim 33-32 advantage in overall shots and a 16-12 advantage in shots on goal. Groundballs went to the Knights 41-36 as did face-offs 12-3. Mount Saint Mary finished the contest 17-for-20 in clearing chances with Emerson going 21-for-28 to go along with a goal in its only man advantage of the day.
 
At 1-2 overall on the season, Mount Saint Mary continues its home stand on Tuesday when it welcomes local foe Vassar to Kaplan Field. Face-off with the Brewers is scheduled for 6:00 p.m.