The MU lacrosse team faced Marist College in their 2016 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opener, a thriller that featured seven ties and eight lead changes.
The Hawks (4-3, 0-1 MAAC) went behind 9-8 on a late goal with 2:36 on the clock, which proved to be too little time to equalize. MU’s squad had six different players score a goal, including two by redshirt sophomore midfielder Dylan Schulte and freshman attacker Eamon Campbell.
Marist goalkeeper Brian Corrigan held off Monmouth’s last efforts to tie with key last minute saves of Schulte and Chris Daly.
“After the game around the locker room was mostly anger and disappointment because we knew we had the opportunity to win the game,” junior midfielder Kevin Murphy said. “I think we showed that we’re going to compete for a MAAC championship and we need to follow this loss up with a hard week of practice and a win this weekend against Manhattan.”
Marist (2-4, 1-0 MAAC) senior attacker Joeseph Radin tallied the first two goals of the contest with back-to-back goals. MU answered with 4:26 to go in the first quarter as sophomore attacker Bryce Wasserman assisted junior midfielder Eric Berger for his fourth goal of the season. Not long after, Campbell fed junior attacker Dan Bloodgood for a man-up goal to even the score at two. Marist answered with a goal of their own to take a 3-2 lead into the second quarter.
The Hawks tied it up yet again 20 seconds into the second quarter with a freshman attacker Hunter Jones assist to junior midfielder Zack Schleicher. Schulte scored his first goal of the game in the second quarter, unassisted, to give MU their first lead of the day. The teams then traded goals over a two-minute span, which included Schulte’s second goal, yielding a 5-4 MU lead at half.
Marist came out of halftime scoring back-to-back man-up goals, which gave them a 6-5 lead before Campbell’s game-tying goal with 6:54 in the third. The Hawks went up 7-6 after a fast break goal set up by junior midfielder Steve Murawski to find freshman midfielder Gordon Phillips off of a groundball on the defensive end with 2:33 left in the quarter.
Marist began the fourth with two straight goals to jump out in front 8-7. With 7:23 left on the clock, Campbell scored a man-up goal which even the score at 8. Marist junior attacker JD Recor then tallied the game-winner off of a pass from Radin with 2:36 remaining, which secured Marist the victory.
Campbell finished with a team high two goals and an assist and now has scored in four straight games. Schulte and Berger each had a pair of points.
“A lot can happen during conference play and I know we are looking forward to seeing Marist in the near future,” Schulte said.
Junior goalie Nick Hreshko made seven saves in the game, while the opposing keeper, Corrigan denied 13 MU shots.
Overall, the Hawks outshot the Red Foxes 41-26 and won 16 of 19 faceoffs, primarily by sophomore midfielder Keegan Teluk—who won 15 of 18 faceoffs on the day.
The Hawks will take on Manhattan Saturday, Mar. 26 in Riverdale, NY, facing off at 4:30 p.m.
PHOTO COURTESY of Monmouth Athletics
