Salisbury, MD – The Montclair State men's lacrosse battled top-ranked and defending national champion Salisbury University tooth and nail until the waning moments of the fourth quarter before falling 9-7 in its season opener on Saturday.

Carson Kalama and Garrett Reynolds each scored inside the final four minutes as the Sea Gulls (4-0) fended off the upset bid by MSU (1-0). SHAUN STERNER scored four times for the Red Hawks.

Sterner scored the only goal in the first period taking a feed from COREY CARLSON giving Montclair State a 1-0 lead just 2:45 into the contest. Salisbury then stormed back with four consecutive goals to start the second. Cory Berry and Corey Gwin scored 51 seconds apart putting the Sea Gulls in front and goals by Kalama and Adam Huber (man-up) extended the lead to 4-1 with 10:18 left before halftime.

Montclair answered back on goals by Sterner and DON FINN closing the gap to 4-3 before Brendan Bromwell's goal with 1:43 to go gave the hosts a 5-3 lead at the break.

Sterner opened the second half with his third goal that was countered by Josh Melton leaving MSU on the wrong end of a 6-4 deficit. BRADY WULSTER scored with 59 seconds left as MSU trailed 6-5 heading into the fourth.

Melton's second goal with 9:53 left in the fourth gave Salisbury a 7-5 lead however Sterner scored a minute later and Finn's second with 4:54 remaining knotted the contest at 7-7. Kalama untied the game 74 seconds later with Reynolds adding another with 2:56 left after the Sea Gulls won the faceoff.

The Red Hawks had a chance to close the gap however Colin Reymann came up with a save against JAMES CLARKE with 2:22 left.

Clarke and Carlson each had two assists for Montclair which got seven ground balls apiece from All-American defenseman RYAN YOUNG and All-American faceoff specialist Blasé Mantineo, who was 11-of-19 at the "X".  LUCAS JONES stopped 11 shots with LUKE NEALON registering three caused turnovers.

Montclair State is now off until it returns home for its next contest against Dickinson College at Sprague Field on Saturday, February 25 at 2:00 pm.