Men's LAX Holds Off Mt. St. Vincent

NEW LONDON, Conn. – Mitchell College held off a late push by the College of Mt. St. Vincent to earn a 13-11 victory in a non-conference men's lacrosse clash on Wednesday afternoon.

The Mariners had built a 12-7 lead—their largest of the day—with 8:01 remaining in the fourth quarter, and looked poised to cruise to the finish. However, the Dolphins came storming back with four straight goals to pull within one with just over three minutes to go.

Aidan Messuri scored with 2:13 left to get the Mariners back on track. Mitchell then won the ensuing face-off and ran down the clock to salt away the win, improving to 2-7 on the season. 

James Giovanniello finished with four goals and an assist, one of five Mariners to record multiple goals in the contest. Messuri notched his third hat trick of the season while John Porcelli, Weston Schumacher and Desmond Knowles notched two goals apiece.

Giovanni Jean-Pharuns led the CMSV attack with four goals and three assists while Joseph Santana and Patrick Nagy each supplied hat tricks. The Dolphins dropped to 0-4 overall. 

Mitchell trailed 2-1 heading into the second quarter but made up the deficit by halftime. Knowles supplied a pair of goals and also fed Messuri for the final goal of the period, tying the game at 4-4 heading into intermission.

The Mariners came out hot to start the third quarter, scoring four goals in the first four minutes of the half. Giovanniello found the back of the cage twice and assisted on a goal by Porcelli as Mitchell opened up an 8-4 advantage.

The Dolphins cut the deficit in half with a pair of goals, the second of which was scored by Nagy on a man-up chance with 1:09 left in the quarter. CMSV looked to carry the momentum into the final period, but a scoop and score by Porcelli beat the third-quarter buzzer and gave the Mariners a 9-6 lead heading to the fourth.

Two goals by Giovanniello and another by Schumacher gave Mitchell a 12-7 lead midway through the final period. The Dolphins countered with a 4-0 run over a 3:36 span to get back into the game. Nagy potted the first goal of the stretch and assisted on another. Santana contributed a pair of tallies, including a man-down goal that made it a 12-11 game with 3:05 left.

Playing man-down due to a penalty on the CMSV goal, Mitchell won the next face-off and tried to protect the ball. Schumacher eventually circled the cage and threaded a pass through the defense that Messuri plucked off the turf and deposited for a much-needed insurance marker.  

Knowles won the final face-off of the game, allowing Mitchell to drain even more time off the clock. The Dolphins got off only one shot in the final seconds, but goalie Steven Turchetta made his 11^th save of the game to secure the victory.

In addition to his two goals, Knowles went 15-for-22 at the face-off spot and scooped up a game-high 14 ground balls. Bradley Sherwood also went 4-for-6 on face-offs to help the Mariners control the restarts.   

Sawyer Davis made 17 saves in goal for the Dolphins.

Mitchell will next host St. Joseph's College (LI) on Sunday, March 27 at noon.