Men's LAX Falls to Albertus Magnus

NEW LONDON, Conn. – The Mitchell College men's lacrosse team dropped a 13-7 decision to Albertus Magnus College on Tuesday afternoon.

The Falcons led 8-7 at halftime and shut out the Mariners in the second half, improving to 4-1 on the season. Cody Walczak led the way with four goals while Derek Ralston had two assists to go along with a hat trick. Goalie Dane Walsh made 15 saves and stopped all eight shots on goal in the final 30 minutes.

Aidan Messuri paced Mitchell (1-6 overall) with three goals while James Giovanniello finished with a goal and two assists. John Grieco played a majority of the game in goal for the Mariners and recorded 10 saves. 

The first half was chock full of offense, with the visitors jumping out to a 2-0 lead behind goals from Ralston and Jayme Toro in the opening 1:18. Messuri put the Mariners on the board a minute later off a feed from Giovanniello, and Joseph Hayes evened the score at the 10:18 mark with his first career goal.

Late in the first quarter, a goal by Ethan LePain pulled the Mariners to within 4-3. However, Walczak closed out the period with his first tally of the day to give the Falcons a two-goal cushion heading into the second quarter.

Shane Kelly extended the Albertus Magnus lead to 6-3 to start the second, but Mitchell responded with back-to-back scores from LePain and Messuri to cut the deficit back to one. Later, Ralston potted a man-up goal to put the Falcons up 7-5, but the Mariners fired back with tallies from Giovanniello and Messuri to tie the game.

Walczak scored the final goal of the half with 2:43 remaining as the Falcons capitalized on another man-up situation. Albertus Magnus finished the day 3-for-8 with the man advantage, while also killing off all four of Mitchell's chances.

The Falcons started the second half with quick goals from Andrew Luzzi and Ralston to pad the lead to three. AMC went on to outscore Mitchell 5-0 in the half, with Walczak adding two more goals before the final horn.

Mitchell will next host Rivier University on Saturday, March 19 at 1:00 p.m.