Montclair, NJ (5/9/04) - Sophomore attack JOHN DELLA PESCA (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn) scored three goals and junior KEVIN GONDRES (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn) tallied a goal and three assists as the top-seeded Montclair State University men's lacrosse team won it second straight ECAC Division III Metro South Championship today by downing Knickerbocker Conference rival and third-seeded Richard Stockton College, 13-3, at Montclair's Sprague Field.

MSU finishes the year at 14-3 overall, while Stockton closes the campaign at 8-8. It was also Montclair's third win over Stockton this year, including a 14-9 victory in a Knickerbocker semifinal here on April 28, and an 8-7 regular-season win at Stockton on April 7 in Pomona.

Junior midfielder BRIAN FISCHER (Ridgewood, NJ/Ridgewood) opened the scoring just 72 seconds into the game for the Red Hawks, who led 3-0 by the end of the first quarter. Fischer set up sophomore RICH DOYEN (Basking Ridge, NJ/Ridge) at 5:52, before Della Pesca collected his first goal at 8:38. Junior midfielder Kurt Fisher (Morton, PA/Ridley) got the visiting Ospreys on the board just 15 seconds into the second quarter, but sophomore middie BRIAN SHADIACK (Clifton, NJ/Clifton) got the goal back for Montclair State at 12:49 for a 4-1 halftime lead.

The Red Hawks then broke the game open with three goals in the first 8:54 of the third period to increase their advantage to 7-1, with Della Pesca and Shadiack scoring along with senior middie CHRIS MEIXNER (Hamburg, NJ/Vernon). Sophomore midfielder Jeff Martin (Lincoln Park, NJ/Boonton) recorded Stockton's second goal at 10:21, before Gondres scored at 13:23 and then freshman midfielder CHRIS GORMAN (New Providence, NJ/New Providence, NJ) picked up his third point of the afternoon with a goal with just 0.8 seconds left in the quarter.

Martin opened the fourth frame at 0:34 with his second goal of the game to cut MSU's lead to 9-3, but the Red Hawks then tallied four times in just under seven minutes to clinch the championship. Meixner scored at 4:18, followed by rookie Luigi DiSimone (East Hanover, NJ/Hanover Park) at 9:34, and rookie middie SAM DEANGELIS (Florham Park, NJ/Hanover Park) with his first career collegiate goal at 10:34. Della Pesca then closed out the scoring at 11:55, assisted by Doyen.

MSU freshman goalkeeper ALAN ANNAZONE (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn) earned ECAC Most Valuable Player accolades in recording 16 saves against the Ospreys, two days after posting 15 stops in MSU's 13-5 ECAC semifinal win over SUNY Farmingdale. Junior netminder Kyle Witty (Montville, NJ/Montville) finished with 11 saves for the Ospreys, after backstopping Stockton to an 8-7 semifinal victory at second-seeded Drew on Friday night. Montclair outshot Stockton, 42-36, and went 2-for-11 with the man advantage while Stockton finished 0-for-6.

Montclair State, which claimed last year's ECAC crown with a 10-9 overtime victory at New York Maritime, is now 26-7 overall and has claimed two ECAC crowns under second-year head coach and former Red Hawk player John Greco. MSU now has four ECAC titles all-time.