Union, NJ (4/23/07) - The Montclair State University men's lacrosse team scored five goals in each of the first two periods en-route to a 17-4 victory over host Kean University in Skyline Conference action on Monday evening.

Montclair State (9-5, 7-2 Skyline) was led by freshman midfielder TAYLOR BONNER (Old Bridge, N.J.) with three goals and an assist, while senior attack Steve Gill (Patchogue, N.Y.) led the Cougars (11-5, 5-4 Skyline) with three goals.

With the victory, the Red Hawks clinch the third seed in the upcoming Skyline Conference tournament, while the Cougars claim the fourth seed. MSU will face No. 2 seed Kings Point in the semifinals on Wednesday, April 25. It will be the second meeting in a week between the teams as the Mariners scored a 9-6 triumph on April 17.

The Red Hawks scored the first three goals of the game and took a 5-1 lead after the opening period, as five different players recorded goals. JOHN SCHIAVONE (Montclair, N.J.) got things going just eight seconds into the contest and Bonner collected his first before BRYAN KLIMCHAK (Clark, N.J.) scored with 8:51 to play as MSU led 5-1 at the end of the first.  MSU tallied the first four goals of the second period, including the last two by Bonner before Gill netted back-to-back goals to trim the deficit to 9-3.  Schiavone scored his second goal of the game and the final goal of the half for the 10-3 lead at the break.

After both team traded goals to open the third period, Montclair State tallied the six goals of the game to win the battle for third place in the Skyline regular season standings.

In the Montclair victory, senior midfielder EVAN WEHMEYER (Succasunna, N.J.) had three goals and an assist, while Schiavone finished with two goals, one assist, six groundballs and three caused turnovers.  In the net, sophomore THOMAS BOWERS (Hamburg, N.J.) had eight saves in just over 53 minutes of action.

For the Cougars, senior midfielder Mike Tanis (Oak Ridge, N.J.) scored a goal and had five groundballs, freshman attack Scott Leathem (Fair Lawn, N.J.), junior attack Dave Lukacsko (Lincoln Park, N.J.) and freshman midfielder Anthony Bertucci (Edison, N.J.) each had an assist.  In goal, junior Dave Nichols (Florham Park, N.J.) made 11 saves in the losing effort.