Chester, PA – The Montclair State University men's lacrosse team edged Widener University 11-10 in a fourth quarter thriller on Wednesday night.

HOW IT HAPPENED

• After CORBIN QUINTERO caused a turnover to open the contest, the Red Hawks (4-4) scored on their first possession of the night, as RYAN VIERBUCHEN found the back of the net off a feed from DAREN MAYER. Montclair continued to apply the pressure early and found their second marker four minutes in, as JACK CLEARY assisted BRANDON LEWANDOWSKI.
• Widener called timeout at the 4:28 mark of the first and scored coming out of the break. The Pride leveled the contest off the resulting faceoff with their second tally in 15 seconds. Both sides forced turnovers down the stretch of the frame but remained tied at two after 15 minutes.
• The home side took their first lead of the contest with 5:42 remaining in the first half, but after DAVID DRISCOLL won the next faceoff, Vierbuchen found CODY COOPER 39 seconds later to tie the game at three. Widener's defense forced a turnover on the next possession, and the Pride came down and struck to retake the advantage with just over four minutes on the clock.
• Widener opened a multi-goal lead with 1:43 remaining in the second stanza, but after each team was assessed a penalty in the final minute, Vierbuchen scored with seconds on the clock to make the halftime margin 5-4.
• Vierbuchen forced a turnover three minutes into the third frame and tallied another marker to level the score at five. The Pride took the lead again on their next possession, but turned the ball over following the faceoff, leading to another Lewandowski marker to make the score even at six. JOHN CRANK scored with three minutes in the third to give the visitors a 7-6 edge entering the final frame.
• The Pride struck 40 seconds into the fourth, but the Red Hawks built a multi-goal lead on tallies from Cleary and Crank. Widener scored twice in 34 seconds to even the game at nine with nine minutes remaining, and took the lead at the 7:18 mark on a man-advantage goal.
• Montclair mounted its final push, as ETHAN MOUNIER tied the contest at 10 with just over four minutes left. On the following possession, WILLIAM BURDGE found the back of the net to give the visitors the lead. GIANNI GRAZIANO made two key saves in the final three minutes, and Quintero caused a turnover with under a minute to help seal the victory.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Vierbuchen tallied the fourth hat trick of the season and sixth of his career. His four assists tied his season-high set on March 2 against FDU-Florham.
• Graziano entered the contest in the third quarter and tallied a career-high six saves.
• Lewandowski collected the first multi-goal game of his career. Quintero finished with three caused turnovers, one off his career-high.

FROM THE FIELD

Coming Soon.

UP NEXT

The Red Hawks will return home and open Coastal Lacrosse Conference play on Saturday, March 30 against #6 Christopher Newport. Opening faceoff at Sprague Field is scheduled for 12:00 PM.