Kings Point, NY (4/25/07) – The Montclair State mens' lacrosse team was eliminated from the Skyline Conference Tournament on Wednesday as the third-seeded Red Hawks fell to No. 2 seed Kings Point, 8-5 at Brooks Stadium.
It was the second time in a week that MSU dropped a three-goal contest to the Mariners.
JOHN DELLA PESCA (Fair Lawn, NJ/Fair Lawn) had two goals for MSU, which fell to 9-6.
The Mariners (12-3) jumped out to a 2-0 lead at Ian Callery and Ryan Merritt scored midway through the first period.
TYLER MEIXNER (Hamburg, NJ/Vernon) got the Red Hawks on the board four seconds before the final horn of the first period as MSU trailed 2-1.
MARIO PASSAFIUME (Boonton, NJ/Mountain Lakes) would tie the game with 8:50 left before half as he scored off a feed from Meixner as the teams were deadlocked at 2-2.
In the third quarter, brothers Brennan and Sean Dougherty each scored once for the only tallies of the period as the Mariners led 4-2. Merritt's second goal early in the fourth pushed the lead to three and Sean Dougherty's goal just over a minute later gave USMMA a 6-2 lead.
Montclair State would not go away as Della Pesca and
TAYLOR BONNER (Old Bridge, NJ/Old Bridge) scored unassisted markers to pull MSU within 6-4. Brennan Dougherty's man-up goal with 5:27 gave Kings Point a 7-4 advantage, however Della Pesca cut the lead back to two goals with 3:55 left. But that would be as close as Montclair State would get as Tony Buleza put the game away with a goal with 2:34 left.
John Pagano made 19 saves for Kings Point, which was outshot in the game 40-32 and lost 11-of-15 faceoffs. MSU's
THOMAS BOWERS (Hamburg, NJ/Pope John XXIII) made 13 saves for the Red Hawks.
JOHN SCHIAVONE (Montclair, NJ/Montclair) finished 7-of-9 on faceoffs and had six ground balls.
MSU will have one more game remaining as the Red Hawks will host Dominican College at Sprague Field on Thursday evening, May 3 at 7:00 pm. Following that game, Montclair will wait to see if it is one of the teams selected to the ECAC Division III Metro Tournament. MSU has been to the championship game of that tournament in each of the past four seasons, including wins in 2003-2005.
