Newburgh, N.Y. – The Mount Saint Mary College Men's Lacrosse team clinched its first berth into the Skyline Conference Championship since appearing in the Championship Final in 2018 on Saturday with a 16-9 victory over the College of Mount Saint Vincent.
Ryan Olmstead (Millbrook, N.Y.) powered the offense with seven points, while
Kenny Leen (Miller Place, N.Y.) made 12 stops in goal for the Knights.
Saturday's win moves the Mount to 5-7 overall on the season and 4-3 in league play, while the Dolphins see their season come to a close at 6-11 overall and 0-7 against conference rivals.
How It Happened
- Mount Saint Mary ran off the first three goals of the game inside the first seven minute of action, starting with a man-up goal from Larry Frank (Staten Island, N.Y.) at the 12:21 mark of the first quarter.
- Xavier Rodriguez (Hackettstown, N.J.) and Mike Travers (Staten Island, N.Y.) followed with markers to push the Knights in front 3-0 with 8:42 left in the opening frame.
- Mount Saint Vincent scored its first two goals of the game, around a man-up tally from Rodriguez, to cut their deficit to two goals after 15 minutes of action.
- The two teams alternated five goals in the second quarter, with the Knights scoring three times to carry a 7-4 advantage into the intermission.
- Nick Gurello (Selden, N.Y.) started the scoring in the second for the Knights and Travers ended the scoring before halftime with his second goal of the game.
- Olmstead finished the second frame with a goal and two assists.
- The third period featured seven goals with the Mount holding off the Dolphins with four scores coming out of halftime.
- After a Richie Albert tally got the visitors to within 7-5 inside the first minute of play of the third, the Knights ripped off three straight goals to move in front 10-5 with 6:54 left in the quarter.
- Travers, Olmstead and Gurello supplied the goals over the run with Olmstead and Travers adding assists.
- After pulling front by five goals, the Knights would not let the Dolphins get closer than four scores the rest of the afternoon.
- Another Albert goal cut the visitors' disadvantage to 11-7, before four straight goals from the Knights broke the game open.
- Olmstead potted his third of the game to start the run with Maxwell Green Wright (Central Islip, N.Y.) scoring a man-up goal and assisting on another tally to support the run.
- Olmstead finished off his four-goal game with his final tally with 3:41 left to close out the Mount's scoring in the game.
For The Knights
- Olmstead finished the game with a career-high seven points, potting four goals and assisting on three others. He closed out a strong all-around game with five groundballs for the Knights.
- Travers recorded a hat trick and assisted on two goals for a five-point afternoon, pushing his team-highs in goals to 23, assists to 13 and points to 36.
- Rodriguez supported the offensive attack for the Knights with three goals and four points, while totaling five groundballs and two caused turnovers.
- Green Wright posted four points, highlighted by three assists, and added three groundballs.
- Frank scored three times in the victory.
- Gurello finished a three-point day with two goals and an assist.
- Sal Gallucci (Massapequa, N.Y.) assisted on three goals in the victory.
- Joseph Angelillo (Pompton Plains, N.J.) caused two turnovers and collected three groundballs.
- Matthew Esposito (Manorville, N.Y.) forced two miscues and scooped a pair of groundballs.
- Anthony Paggiotta (Wappingers Falls, N.Y.) had a big day in face-offs, winning a career-high 16 draws to go along with nine groundballs.
- Leen continued his standout play in goal for the Knights, turning aside 12 shots and securing six groundballs.
For The Dolphins
- Albert led the offense with four goals and five points.
- Jacob Cochran scored twice and finished with three points to go along with four groundballs.
- Giovanni-Jean Pharuns and Andrew Dzubak each finished with a goal and an assist.
- Chris Meenan caused forced turnovers for the Dolphins and collected seven groundballs.
- Brian Valera won seven face-offs and gathered four groundballs.
- Roger Raimo made 14 saves in goal for the Dolphins.
Game Statistics
- Mount Saint Mary held a commanding 62-39 advantage in shots, including a 30-21 edge in shots on goal.
- The Knights held the edge in groundballs by a 45-34 margin.
- Face-offs were controlled by the Knights, 18-10.
- Mount Saint Mary took advantage of seven Dolphin penalties with three man-up goals.
- The Knights finished an efficient 20-for-21 in clears.
- Mount Saint Vincent went 19-for-27 in clearing chances.
What's Next
- Mount Saint Mary will travel to top-seed Maritime for the 2023 Skyline Conference Semifinal Round on Tuesday. Game time is to be announced.
