POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 26, 2016) — Noah Parson and James Thomas each scored hat tricks, as the Vassar College men's lacrosse team held off Skidmore College 12-10 on Saturday.

With the win, the Brewers improve to 4-3 overall and 1-0 in conference play, while the Thoroughbreds fall to 3-5 and 0-1 in the Liberty League. 

Parson has continued to be a solid force for the Brewers. The senior has a team-high 17 goals along with seven assists through seven starts. 

"Noah's just a warrior," Graham said. "He's been the smallest guy on our team for four years, and yet he's going to finish as the all-time leader in goals and points. He's got passion for the game."

Looking at one of the newer Brewers, Thomas has burst onto the scene after missing the first four games with an injury. Through three games, the freshman has 11 points (seven goals and four assists) with 28 ground balls. 

Thomas scored the first goal of the game, thanks to an assist from Brandon DeStasio. But Skidmore responded with three straight to take an early lead. 

Parson cut the deficit to 3-2 with a goal, courtesy of Sam Houston-Read. Then with 18 seconds remaining in the quarter, Parsons helped knot it at 3 with a pass to Chris Billups for his 10th goal of the season. 

Vassar and Skidmore split the second quarter, scoring two goals apiece. DeStasio dished to Houston-Read for a goal before scoring one himself four minutes later.

Thomas broke a 5-all tie by scoring the first goal of the third quarter before breaking a 6-all tie later that period with an assist from DeStasio, his third help of the game.

Vassar netted the next two goals, one by Liam Moriarty and another by Patrick Gibbons, before Skidmore scored two themselves to deadlock it at 9-all. Then Houston-Read gave the Brewers the lead for good with his 12th goal of the season, assisted by Nick Page. 

With Moriarty passing and Parson scoring, the pair potted Vassar's final two goals of the game. 

Seven Brewers found the back of the net in the contest, a testament to the team's depth.

"When you come into a game, especially against a league opponent, and you have seven guys score goals, it makes it really tough to defend," Graham said.

The Brewers were solid on defense throughout the contest. Matthew Altman forced a game-high three turnovers to go along with two ground balls, and Eric Fishman picked up a team-high three ground balls to go along with his 6-of-11 face-off performance. 

"Eric Fishman started winning us some face-offs," Graham said. "We were struggling with that, and then all the sudden, he came up with some big ones that he won clean and got us some possessions."

Thomas concurred: "That was very big for our team."

Goalkeeper Brandon Crecco earned the win for the Brewers with 11 saves and 10 goals-allowed, while Chris Baughan took the loss with 11 saves and 12 goals-allowed.

"Brandon Crecco made some huge saves in the cage, especially late when it was a one-goal game," Graham said. "We don't win this game without the performance he put on. Got us out of some tough spots, especially some man-down situations… I just continue to be thrilled at the performance that he's putting out there. 

For the Thoroughbreds, Chris Mulligon scored a team-high three goals, while Jack Metzler and Cody Legeza each totaled two. Kevin Mulvey, Jack Curry and Ryan Warnock each tacked on one as well. 

The Vassar men's lacrosse team continues conference play against Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, NY. Game time is set for Saturday, April 2 at 1 p.m.