Newburgh, N.Y. – Playing the fourth game of a five-game home stand, the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team was topped by visiting Albright 11-9 Saturday afternoon at Kaplan Field. Juniors Anthony Kearns (Clinton, N.J.) and Vinny Vaccaro (Floral Park, N.Y.) each posted three goals for the Mount in the loss.
 
Tightly contested throughout, the two teams split 10 goals prior to halftime. The Lions jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first before the Knights scored two of the final three goals of the period to pull to within 4-3 after 15 minutes of action.  Ryan Maraio (Staten Island, N.Y.) got the Mount on the board early in the frame with Vaccaro scoring twice in the final 5:38 to being the Mount to within a goal.
 
Kearns potted his first of the game at the 12:16 of the second stanza and after winning the ensuing face-off Zachary Beam (Montgomery, N.Y.) streaked down the middle to pot his first of the season at the  12:08 mark to push the Knights in front 5-4.
 
The one goal advantage stood for the Knights until the 2:46 mark of the second period when Jacob Cunningham evened things at 5-5 for the Lions with his seventh goal of the season. He finished off his second of the game to close out the scoring over the opening 30 minutes.
 
Albright finished the first half with a slim 21-20 advantage in shots, while the Knights held the first half edge in shots on goal 9-7. Face-offs at the break were even at 6-6 with the Albright holding a slight 22-19 advantage in groundballs.
 
The two teams alternated the first three goals of the third period and after a Kearns tally evened the score at 6-6 with 6:24 left in the frame, Albright scored two straight to open an 8-6 advantage. Billy Holland (Pearl River, N.Y.) got the Mount back to within a goal with his seventh of the season, off a feed from Brian Esposito (Floral Park, N.Y.), to finish off the third period scoring.
 
Vaccaro finished off his hat trick to open the fourth and knotted the score at 8-8, but the Lions closed the game with three of the final four tallies. Cole Genneken scored each of the three for Albright, including the eventual game winner with the man advantage with 5:21 left to play.
 
After Kearns scored his third of the day to pull the Mount to within 10-9, Genneken caused a turnover and scored into an open goal with 91 seconds left to play to give the visitors the final two-goal advantage.
 
Vaccaro and Kearns were two of five different goal scorers in the game for Mount Saint Mary with Kearns closing the day with three groundballs and a caused turnover. Esposito assisted on a pair of markers for the Knights, pushing his team lead in helpers to nine. Michael Gallucci (Northport, N.Y.) led the Knights with four points, all assists, and moved into the team lead in points with 13 on the season.
 
Beam continued his steady play for the Mount with 14 face-off wins and a team-high eight groundballs on the day. Esposito and Jake Camerino (Shelton, Conn.) each collected four groundballs for the Mount with Matthew Martino (Watertown, Conn.) and Carmine Comitni (Staten Island, N.Y.) each causing two turnovers.
 
Genneken led Albright with five goals and six points on the day, with Cunningham scoring twice and assisting on two other goals. Genneken and Cole Graser each caused three turnovers and Gasperio Alessi won a team-high six face-offs.
 
Devin Kelley (Hebron, Conn.) suffered the loss in goal, making seven saves on the day while adding three groundballs and a caused turnover. Liam Ferry picked up the win for the Lions with seven saves.
 
Albright finished the day with a 39-33 advantage in overall shots and a slim 18-16 edge in shots on goal. Groundballs in the game were even at 44-44 with the Mount controlling face-offs 14-9. Mount Saint Mary rounded out the day 16-for-19 in clears and 2-for-7 with the man-advantage, while the Loins went 18-for-22 in clearing chances and scored four times with the man-advantage.
 
Saturday's loss is the fourth straight for the Mount and drops it to 1-4 overall on the season. The Knights close out the home stand on Wednesday when it plays host to SUNY Poly. Face-off at Kaplan Field is slated for 6:00 p.m.