SCHENECTADY, NY (April 30, 2016) — A historic season for the Brewers of the Vassar College men's lacrosse team came to an end when they lost at Union College on Saturday, 17-13. 

Noah Parson, T.J. Morrow and Nick Page form the winningest senior class in program history, as the Brewers finish the season with an 8-8 overall and 3-4 conference mark. 

"(The seniors) leave here, which is tough," coach Marc Graham said. "We talk about what a strong nucleus we have coming back next year and how we can build upon it, but we'll be without those guys. They graduate as the winningest class in the history of the program, an accomplishment no other group has done."

Graham also credited his three assistant coaches, John McCreery, Drew Nesmith and Dieter Treusdell, for making this season such a success. 

"They've done such a great job, individually in each of their roles and collectively working together — especially filling my role when I had to step away," Graham said of his assistants. "As exciting of a season as it is and all the things we accomplished, we wouldn't have been able to accomplish that if they didn't step up in their roles and the kids didn't respond to them."

**

Against Union, Sam Houston-Read secured a team-best five points on three goals and two assists, while Parson (three goals, one assist) and James Thomas (four goals) both finished with four points. Brandon DeStasio had two goals, an assist and five ground balls, while Liam Moriarty netted a goal and Brandon Klein dished out an assist. 

Goalkeepers Matt Boyd and Brandon Crecco split time in net, with Crecco taking the loss with six saves in the second half. Sam Bebout earned the win with five saves in 60 minutes, as the Dutchmen (9-6, 4-3) now qualify for the fourth and final spot in the Liberty League Championships. 

Daniel Kycia and Andrew Blau each scored hat tricks for Union, while Peter Richardson, Thomas Stanton and Nolan Stauffer each potted two goals. In total, 10 Dutchmen found the back of the net.

The Brewers came out ready to roll, scoring the first two goals. Klein found Houston-Read for the first before DeStasio created his own shot for the second. 

"It was a great game," Graham said. "Union is a team that has traditional handled us pretty easily. We jumped out early and let them know that they were going to be in a battle."

The Dutchmen answered with two of their own, but the Brewers matched them with goals from Houston-Read (assisted by Parson) and Thomas (unassisted), 4-2.

"We got some great offense in the first half, excellent ball movement," Graham said. "We played really good team offense."

Union scored four of the next five to end the first quarter, with DeStasio breaking up the scoring with an assisted goal from Houston-Read. 

Just like the Brewers had done in the first quarter, they came out hot in the second. Houston-Read lent another helping hand, this time to Parson to spark a 3-0 run. Thomas capped the surge with back-to-back goals, the first assisted by DeStasio, 8-6. 

Union's leading scoring notched his first goal of the game to end the drought before Parson scored on an extra-man opportunity to take a 9-7 advantage. The Brewers were effective in EMOs, going 2-for-2 in man-up opportunities. 

The Dutchmen scored the last two of the half to knot the game at nine going into the break. That momentum carried into the third quarter, as they outscored the Brewers 4-1 in the period. 

"They got more ground balls than we did, they were starting to win the face-offs a little more clearly. They have a very talented team, a lot of really good shooters," Graham said. "Their depth really started to ware on us a little bit."

The Dutchmen scored six of the first seven goals of the second half, as Houston-Read netted the only Brewer goal in that span on an extra-man opportunity. 

"They pulled out to a four- or five-goal lead at one point, but our guys dug down and got a couple good goals," Graham said. "It was never second string versus first string. It was a battle all the way to the end."

Vassar trailed by as many as five, 15-10, in the fourth quarter, but outscored Union 3-2 the rest of the way. Thomas secured his 24th goal on the season in that span, Moriarty notched his 13th and Parson set a program-high record with his 42nd. 

Parson had eclipsed his own record of 35 goals in a season two games ago against No. 2 Rochester Institute of Technology. 

Parson is one of three seniors to play their final game with the program, as Morrow and Page will also graduate at the end of the semester. 

"It was a game our seniors, all three of them, really contributed well," Graham said. "T.J. and Nick did a great job on defense, and Noah obviously had another stellar performance on three goals and an assist. He'll finish his career with a hat trick, four points."

—VASSAR—