POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 8, 2017) — The Vassar College men's lacrosse team extended its record-setting start to four straight wins with a 15-7 victory over Mount Saint Mary College at Weinberg Field on Wednesday.
"It's really exciting to be 4-0," coach Marc Graham said. "Our guys work really hard, and we have some pretty lofty goals this year. We're off to a great start. Guys are playing really well on both sides of the ball."
Senior captain Liam Moriarty paced the pack with five points on four goals and an assist.
"With (Moriarty) being our assists leader and doing such a great job as a distributor, it was great to see him finish his opportunities tonight," Graham said of Moriarty, who leads the team with six assists on the young season. "There's no question that he's a capable goal-scorer. He's really a double threat."
Eleven of Moriarty's teammates found the back of the net as well, while six dished out at least one assist, giving 15 total Brewers at least one point for the game.
"You never know where our goals are going to come from," Graham said. "It makes us tough to stop."
Michael Mullen logged two helpers, Drew Adams, Nick Diamond and Sam Houston-Read all picked up a pair of points on a score and an assist.
Defender Eric Prezioso, who netted his first collegiate goal, forced two giveaways to go along with five ground balls. Brandon DeStasio also helped out on defense forcing two turnovers to go along with a score in the third quarter.
Matthew Lowery continued to dominate at the face-off position, winning 10 of 11 attempts on the way to picking up a game-high six ground balls. Fellow specialists Alex Georgalas and Chandler Arney also found success, going 6-of-7 and 6-of-8, respectively.
Matthew Boyd earned the win for Vassar (4-0), making five saves over the first 30 minutes, while Christopher Doerr took the loss for MSMC (1-2), making 13 stops over the first 49:30, as the Brewers outshot their visitors 51-27. Erik Mikelinich also spent time in the cage for VC with seven saves in the second half.
A quick start was key for the Brewers, who opened the game with a 6-1 run. Moriarty sparked and later highlighted the surge with a pair of goals, while Dekker Stebel, Prezioso, Nick Diamond and Houston-Read kept the momentum going with scores of their own.
Danny Kugler, who led the Knights with five points on four goals and an assist, broke up the early burst in the first quarter before halting it in the second. His second strike pulled MSMC within 6-2 before the sides exchanged baskets over the two halves.
Moriarty, Lowery and Gibbons scored in between MSMC goals before DeStasio sparked a 6-2 run to end the game. Moriarty, Chris Billups, Liam Neville, Austin Mello and Adams all scored down the stretch on the way to victory.
The Brewers will pack their bags to fly to Florida, where they will face Wesleyan University on Tuesday, March 14 at noon and Salve Regina on Friday, March 17 at noon.
"Everyone's really excited about Tuesday. We have another top-20 opponent in Wesleyan," Moriarty said. "We're excited to get back to work."
—VASSAR—
