Patchogue, N.Y. – Playing in its first game since a 13-4 win over Purchase on April 13, the Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team suffered a 9-4 loss in the regular season finale at St. Joseph's-L.I. on Friday afternoon. Brian Esposito (Floral Park, N.Y.) led the offensive attack with three points with Devin Kelley (Hebron, N.Y.) making nine saves in goal.
 
St. Joseph's scored the only three goals of the first quarter and the first four overall after Shawn Castro gave the Golden Eagles a 4-0 lead 50 seconds into the second stanza. The Knights sliced its deficit in half when Esposito scored back-to-back goals at the 11:43 and 6:11 marks of the second period. R.J. Maher (Mount Sinai, N.Y.) picked up assists on both markers for the Knights.
 
After getting to within two midway through the second quarter, the Knights saw St. Joseph's tally twice in the final 3:47 of the half to carry a 6-2 lead into the intermission. Robert Lopez keyed the run for St. Joseph's with a goal and an assist.
 
Over the opening 30 minutes, St. Joseph's held a slim 12-11 advantage in shots but took a 7-3 advantage in face-offs prior to the break. Mount Saint Mary held a convincing 29-17 advantage in groundballs at the break.
 
Coming out of halftime, St. Joseph's put the clamps on and did not allow a Mount Saint Mary goal until early in the fourth period. The Golden Eagles opened an 8-2 lead after three periods before Chris Maggio (Valley Stream, N.Y.) and A.J. Bolger (West Milford, N.J.) scored to bring the Knights to within the final five-goal disadvantage.
 
Esposito finished the day with a pair of goals and an assist, moving his team lead in goals to five, assists to nine and points to 14. He added a caused turnover for the Knights in the contest.
 
Maggio and Bolger added the other goals for the Knights with Maher finishing with two assists with Ryan Olmstead (Millbrook, N.Y.) adding a helper. Matthew Martino (Watertown, Conn.) caused a trio of turnovers for the Knights and led the team with seven groundballs with Vinny Vaccaro (Floral Park, N.Y.) scooping six groundballs.
 
St. Joseph's was paced by Tim McCann who finished with four goals and six points. Vincent Raccuglia picked up a team-high six groundballs with Tim Bruno going 10-for-15 in face-offs.
 
Kelley rounded out the day with nine stops in goal, giving him 40 saves in four games in 2021. He moved his save percentage to .533 and his goals against average to 8.89. Andrew Brust earned the win in goal for St. Joseph's with nine stops as well.
 
St. Joseph's finished the game with a 29-22 edge in overall shots that included an 18-13 advantage in shots on goal. Mount Saint Mary finished the day with a 41-36 advantage in groundballs while the Golden Eagles controlled face-offs 11-6. Mount Saint Mary finished 17-for-21 in clearing chances and converted once in four tries with the man advantage.
 
Friday's loss drops Mount Saint Mary to 1-3 both overall and in Skyline Conference play.