POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (April 7, 2018) – Leading by two at halftime, the Brewers came up just short in their final non-conference game of the season falling, 9-8, to Stockton University on Saturday afternoon.
 
Michael Mullen registered his second straight four goal game for the Brewers as he led the offense against the Ospreys. The sophomore scored two quick goals to give Vassar an early 2-0 edge. After Stockton got one on the board, TK Murphy scored his second career goal as Pat Gibbons dished it to the midfielder.
 
The Ospreys offense responded with back-to-back markers as they closed out the opening frame and got the first tally of the second to knot the game at 3-3. With 6:03 left before the half, Mullen tallied his hat trick with a man-up goal assisted by James Thomas. And one minute later, Kyle Cherry buried a goal to bring the score to 5-3.
 
The second half was a reverse of the first as Stockton outscored Vassar 6-3 over the final 30 minutes. After a quick goal from the visitors, Thomas capitalized on an extra-man opportunity to again put Vassar head by two.
 
But a run of four straight goals from Stockton pit the Brewers in an 8-6 hole just two minutes into the final stanza. Mullen stopped the scoring run when he fired home his fourth score of the day with 10 minutes remaining. But another Ospreys goal had Vassar back down by two.
 
With 3:01 on the clock, Dekker Stebel made a fantastic one-on-one play as he struck the back of the net for the Brewers' eighth goal of the day. The Brewers next offensive possession came with a flurry of shots, but none hitting their target.
 
With just one minute to go, Stockton was able to force a turnover to regain possession and run out the remainder of time on the clock.
 
Mullen finished the day with four goals followed by Thomas and Stebel with one goal and one assist each. Murphy and Cherry both logged one score while Tomás Meade and Gibbons both had assists.
 
Matthew Lowery went 15-20 on restarts while picking up 10 groundballs in the process. In front of keeper, Matt Boyd, the Brewers caused 10 turnovers with 10 different players all logging one. Boyd made his 10^th start of the season while picking up 11 saves in cage.

"This was a tough one today, because I thought we were prepared to take the next step forward," said head coach Marc Graham. "The guys are really playing hard, and I just have to do a better job of helping them to get over the hump. I'm really going to have to take a look at my practice plans and re-evaluate what I am doing to help these talented guys get better results. When we have strong goalie play and the dominating faceoff results we have been getting I should be able to put us in a better position to win. I am the professional here, so the responsibility begins and ends with me. I know my guys won't quit fighting, so I will work even harder to have them prepared."
 
Vassar is on the road and back into conference play as they head to Troy to face No. 20 RPI on Wednesday, April 11 at 6:00 p.m.
 
-VASSAR-